The Sun and Sea
by paox-fics
Summary: Oneshots based around Sabo, Ace, Luffy and/or Zoro. Gen.
1. Past

**Index of Chapters:**

 **Chapter 1 - Past \- Ace.  
** **Chapter 2 - Confusions \- Ace and Luffy.  
** **Chapter 3 - Fair Fight \- Ace and Luffy.  
** **Chapter 4 - Out of Place \- Ace and Sabo.  
** **Chapter 5 - Compass \- Ace, Sabo, Luffy and Zoro.  
** **Chapter 6 - Waiting \- Ace and Sabo.  
** **Chapter 7 - The Other Way \- Ace, Sabo and Luffy.  
** **Chapter 8 - Rogue IV \- Ace, Sabo, Luffy and Zoro.  
** **Chapter 9 - Unafraid \- Ace.  
** **Chapter 10 - Cross My Heart and Hope to Die \- Ace and Marco.  
** **Chapter 11 - Marco, Polo \- Whitebeard Pirates.  
Chapter 12 - Loss and Gain \- All four.  
** **Chapter 13 - Home \- Zolu (coming soon)  
** **Chapter 14 - Shallows \- Marcoace (coming soon)  
Chapter 15 - Rouge 17 (sequel to Rogue IV) \- All four (coming soon)**

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 **The Sun and Sea – Chapter 1**

 **'Past'**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Thatch.**

* * *

The day after Ace finally gives in and joins the crew, Thatch wakes the fire-throwing teen early to escort him down to the ship infirmary. Bring the polar opposite of a morning person (i.e: the polar opposite of Thatch), his new brother stumbles along beside him blearily, squinting every time the glare of the rising sun shines through a passing porthole and onto his face. Only a few other crew members are awake, and they look about as dead-on-their-feet as Ace does, sending only mumbled 'hello's and sloppy waves and salutes in response to Thatch's cheery greetings.

Reaching the infirmary, the pair of pirates are greeted by the Head Nurse, Hannah, looking as pristine and unruffled as always. She's sitting at a desk at the back of the room with a forboding-looking stack of paperwork, and as Thatch and Ace enter, the latter can tell that she's been expecting them. A steaming mug of what looks and smells like black coffee pours a pleasant, strong smell into the sunlit room.

Ushered by Thatch into a seat on the other side of the desk, Ace raises an eyebrow. "What's all this about?" he asks, not unkindly.

"Every time a new member joins, I make sure to take note of their medical record and needs to add them to our files. No, Ace," Hannah raises a firm hand as he opens his mouth to protest, "It's customary procedure with every crew member. You _are_ one of us now, aren't you?"

The teen blanches, before his face settles into something like a pout. ' _Puppy-dog eyes to sink a ship_ ', Thatch adds to the mental list of things he's learning about his new brother, as the former captain of the Spades sighs and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his torso. "Fiiine," he grumbles, "Alright. What do you want to know?"

Hannah offers a rare, bright smile and straightens the stack of papers, clearing her throat. "Full name?"

"Portgas D. Ace. Don't you already know this?"

"Don't ask questions." Thatch stifles a laugh, grabbing a chair for himself. "Age?"

"Seventeen and five months."

Amusement turns to shock, and if Thatch has been drinking, he would have tried out that spit take he's been working on. "Wait, seriously?" Even Hannah looks surprised.

The teen raises an eyebrow curiously. "Yeah. What's so surprising?"

"Dude, you look, like, twenty!" Thatch's face is back to amusement. "Aw, diddums, are you still a teeny-weeny- Whoah!" The head chef barely manages to get out of the way of a whip of fire, and Ace has a pronounced tick in his forehead. "Jeez, watch the hair!"

Ace kneads his forehead. "Can we just get this over and done with, please?" he pleads with Hannah.

Offering him a comforting but clinical pat on the shoulder as Thatch settles back down, Hannah says, "In just a minute, first I need to check something…" She ruffles through her papers and, after a second, pulls out a new sheet that looks heavily worn. She scans if for a few seconds before saying, "Yep, I was right."

"About what?" Ace and Thatch ask in unison.

"You're officially the youngest person on this ship, Ace." Hannah looks almost smug. "Jules owes me 500 beli."

"Wait, _what?!"_ Ace stares. "I thought Haruta was the youngest! She's, like, four foot tall!"

As Hannah explains patiently that Haruta is actually twenty-two despite her height deficiency, Thatch bursts into laughter. Slinging an arm around Ace's shoulder, he grins down at him and says, "So, _little brother_ , how are you doing this fine morn- ARGH!"

Three minutes later, Thatch pouts near a Thatch-sized, lightly smoking hole in the wall, sporting a large bruise on his cheek, and Ace sits back down in front of Hannah. "Next?"

Shooting her new brother an amused look before glancing back down at her papers, Hannah read out, "Birth name? Any name changes?"

Abruptly, all of the warmth an amusement that hung in the room vanishes. "I…" Even Thatch looked up in surprise as Ace's voice wavered slightly. "What does this have to do with medical records?" the fire logia almost growls.

"Whoa, whoa, Ace, calm down." Hannah's clinical comfort is back in place, marred only by the worry that Thatch can see from a mile away in her eyes. "It's just a part of the form. Should we miss this part out?"

Ace nods mutely, looking down at his feet. "Sorry, I just usually don't like to go by my birth father's name," he says, looking guilty at his outburst as he regains her composure.

"It's fine, Ace." Hannah smiles warmly. "Let's carry on," she says, professional again, and the look on her face reminds Thatch just why she's the head doctor.

There are a few more questions about nothing much, like allergies and blood type, and they give Thatch enough time to mull over what he's learnt so far. Ace evidently doesn't get along well with his father – by the looks of things, in fact, he might even hate the man. This creates more questions than in answers; for Thatch, anyway. He's known for a long time that Ace has got something dark inside him – has known since he and Marco had a whispered conversation about it a few days after Ace was beaten – and it doesn't surprise him too much to find out that Ace isn't the type of man to be close to his family.

His age, though, is a real shock to the system. Sure, occasionally Thatch has seen his childish, playful side (and now that he's joined, he suspects that he might be seeing it a lot more), but Ace is downright scary when he's in battle, and for a mere seventeen year old to have that much hatred in his eyes… It makes Thatch surpress a shudder, because no kid who isn't even old enough to legally drink should have to carry that.

The fourth division commander is brought back to the conversation by Hannah asking, "Sea of origin?"

Ace actually beams, something like nostalgia flashing through his expression, and it's sort of like seeing the sun come out. "East Blue!" he grins, fiddling subconsciously with the red string of beads around his neck. "That reminds me, I need to write to-"

"East Blue?!" Thatch cuts in. Apparently, there's no end to the surprises today. "Fire Fist Ace is from the East Blue." Ace nods blankly. "Fire-wielding, pirate captain, 'Super-Rookie', Warlord-level Fire Fist Ace? East Blue?" Ace nods again. "Sorry, this isn't connecting."

"What's wrong with East Blue?" Ace bristles slightly. "Almost half of my crew are from the East Blue! My little brother, too!"

Scrap the part about Ace not being somebody close to his family; Thatch could probably see the warmth enter his eyes at the mention of this little brother from a mile away. All thought of defending his home sea now apparently forgotten, Ace grins as he answers the rest of Hannah's questions without complaint, eyes and mind obviously elsewhere. When they leave, Thatch considers telling Marco what he's learnt, but scraps that idea a second later. He's Marco, so there's probably not point telling him what he already knows because Marco simply knows everything.

One thing Thatch has learned is that their new brother certainly is full of surprises.

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 **Please take the time to leave a review! Thank you for reading!**

 **Edit* I was reading back through and found a few tense errors. Sorry! They're fixed now :)**


	2. Confusions

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 2**

 **'Confusions'**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Luffy, Strawhats.  
Set: Canon world with Alive!Ace, post-timeskip.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

* * *

"So," Ace said curiously from his spot next to Luffy, leaning in, his eyes gleaming mischievously, "How did this idiot," (he knocked the sleeping Luffy's forehead with his knuckles) "get you all to join the crew? I mean, some of you sure don't seem like you would join a pirate crew, at least, not willingly."

Zoro groaned quietly, leaning back and covering his face with his hands, and Robin chuckled, earning a mild glare from the swordsman. After a second of silence, Nami sighed, brushing a strand of long red hair off her shoulder in an irritable fashion and, at the exact same time as Usopp, said, "Favours."

Ace grinned. That sure sounded like the Luffy he knew. Sensing another silence blooming, Robin spoke next, her voice soft. "Emotional persuasion, Ace-kun," she said pleasantly, and the grin on the pyromaniac's face died a little. Emotional persuasion? Since when was his little brother a psychologist?

The blond chef spoke next as he dug a fresh cigarette out of his pocket, stubbing his old one out. "Pirate-chefs, Nami-swan and the mosshead," he said boredly, breathing deeply, and Ace's smile returned - that sounded like a story worth telling. However, before he could open his mouth, the reindeer (he was still sure that it was a racoon) spoke in its high, squeaky, racoon-voice.

"Insults."

Ace glanced down at Luffy, frowning. First emotional persuasion, now insults? Was there something he was missing? But, yet again, before he could ask, the skeleton spoke merrily.

"Deprivation of human company, yohoho..."

The frown deepened. This was just getting weirder and weirder. The swordsman stretched, yawning, and it was a resigned yawn, as if he was giving up on the hope of staying silent. Suddenly, though, he smirked, as if he knew exactly what was going through Ace's head. "Bondage," he smirked.

Something ground to a halt in Ace's mind, just as his fire did the dead oposite and flared out in all directions a few seconds later. A yell of something between rage and abject horror rang across the ocean all around the _Sunny_.

Zoro, being the courageous, fearless man that he was, promptly jumped off the side of the Sunny, leaving a stunned crew and a steaming (quite literally) Ace.

Then, Franky laughed a booming, roaring laugh that made everybody jump, and when they turned to look at him, his maniacal smile was nearly splitting his face./p

"He grabbed my balls," the Cyborg grinned.

( _later, when Luffy told the real story from Zoro's infirmary bedside, laughing, Ace was still recovering from his near-cardiac arrest and Frank was due for many, many repairs_ )

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 **I hope you enjoyed, please review! Much love!**


	3. Fair Fight

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 3**

 **'Fair Fight'**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Luffy.  
Set: Let the specific AU culminate in your imagination. Just a world where the sea is far more perilous, and Luffy wants to join his friends to fight out there, but Ace has seen the men that return from the world outside and doesn't want his brother to become like them.  
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

"I am not afraid."

Ace met his younger brother's level stare with cold, hard eyes that burnt like fire. Nobody had asked to leave the village since the war had begun seven years ago, but now, here was his young brother, the one he would always and had always protected, telling Ace that he was leaving and never coming back. _'Sabo wanted us to live, to be free_ ,' his words had been, and that had **hurt**. ' _We can't stay here forever, we have to go join them out there! I want this country to be free!_ ' Of course, Ace had said no immediately, but Luffy was having none of it.

"You may not be," the older replied with barely quashed anger, "but you've never seen it out there, you've never left this place in you life!"

"And you have?!" Luffy answered heatedly. "Don't you get it?! Zoro and Usopp are out there, they're my only friends! I can't just stay here when they could be dying!"

Ace took a deep breath, then let it out in a rush. The air outside the single village tavern was bitterly cold, and a cloud formed in front of his face.

"Fine," he said shortly, squaring his shoulders, narrowing his eyes and barcing himself like he had so many times before, when defending their village with the men while Luffy stayed hidden with Makino and the children. "Prove to me that you're strong enough to survive."

The air grew colder now, denser and thicker, and the villager's who'd been watching hurried into the Party Bar, not wanting to be involved in this. Ace was strong - one of the strongest fighters on the island - but Luffy was no slouch either; and this time, he was fighting for something more important than anything to him. Well, apart from the brother he was fighting, anyway.

And Luffy threw the first punch.

 _(hours later, after the fire in Ace's eyes has dimmed and died to nothing but coal-black embers and his pupils are glassy and unseeing, Luffy screams out like a wounded animal as he cries over the brother he killed. He knew that Ace would never really fight him. He knew that Ace would always play fair. And that's the opposite of what he did.)_

 _(the knife in Ace's chest that his little brother had expected him to dodge with practiced ease falls to the floor with a clatter)_

* * *

 **Please review! I'm hoping to update again tonight!**


	4. Out of Place

**The Sun and Sea - Chapter 4**

 **'Out of Place'**

 **Main character(s): Sabo, Ace  
Set: Canon world with Alive!Sabo, pre-strawhats.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

* * *

"Damn…" Sabo gives a small groan of frustration. "Nobody at Foosha knows us, and if we want to get out of here by nightfall then we don't have time to head to Grey Terminal and see if we can scavenge anything."

"Why didn't we think ahead again?" Ace growls dully, poking at the trio's single boat.

Today is a day that he's been eagerly anticipating and dreading in equal measure for a long time, as has Sabo – the day Sabo turns seventeen and the two older brothers finally set off into the vast world of piracy. The only reason the pair are setting off together is the fact that the winter this year was too harsh for Ace to leave on his actual birthday; that and Ace's reluctance to leave before Garp left again (the old man came to visit around the time of the oldest brother's birthday this year and took an annoyingly long amount of time to leave).

"Shishishi!" Their younger brother laughs lightly, darting to and fro across the grass on the balls of his small feet. "You two are idiots!"

Smacking Luffy gruffly across the back of the head, Ace grits out, "I don't want to hear that from you, moron!"

Sighing in a long-suffering manner that suggests that he gets this every day, Sabo kneads his forehead with his fingers. "Look, how about we just get to the next island together and then I'll get a new boat and we can part ways. Sound good to you?"

"See," Ace says, grin back in place, "This is why you're the smart one."

* * *

That night, when their brother is far behind and the next island is fast approaching, Sabo and Ace have no problem sharing the deck of their tiny rowing boat. They sleep staring up at the stars, Ace's legs thrown over Sabo's and their forearms touching, and the beads that Dandan gave Ace before he left dangle to the floor.

Sabo knows that he's going to miss this. Every night for the past seven years, he's slept an arm's length from the warmth that is his teenage older brother (most of the time with Luffy sandwiched between them). To suddenly become so detached from everything that that warmth brings with it, to know that Ace will be miles across the sea searching for his own dream, and Luffy will be far, far behind… It's unsettling. That's a gross understatement.

Shoving his faithful hat over his face so that it blocks out the moonlight, Sabo pushes those thoughts from his mind. He's been waiting for this for years and years. Why is it only now so daunting? Letting his eyes slide over to Ace's sleeping face, calmer and stiller than it'll ever be when he's awake, a pang resounds inside the former noble, but he smiles anyway. Who knows where these currents will take them? But no matter what happens - the reason they became brothers in the first place was so that they could have a bond that stretched over the seas; a bond that could never be broken.

Sabo shifts slightly and Ace grasps his arm in his sleep, cool fingers locking around his wrist as he tugs him back down. "L'ff," the older mutters, before he snores again and rolls over, one foot slipping out of the boat to dangle a centimetre above the water.

Grinning, the blond turns over so that his back is pressed to Ace's and closes his eyes, letting the soft rocking of their tiny boat lull him into an easy and familiar sleep.

* * *

The next day, the two brothers finally dock at a nearby island, and Sabo lets his fingers wander between pockets in the small town square until he has enough cash to throw together to buy a small-ish boat. At this, Ace reminds him that he's a pirate and he could just _steal_ the damn thing, and Sabo chides his best friend that, even if he might be setting out to be a pirate, he's not an immoral one. (Ace shoots back that he would make 'a lousy pirate', and the resulting wrestle leaves them both grinning and exhilarated).

But the day wanes on, and soon they can't wait any longer. After a rough, short hug, because Sabo and Ace have never really been the touchy-feely types, they each clamber into their respective boats. There's a moment of silence in which Sabo drinks in the sight of Ace, of his tanned skin and grey eyes and lean body. Sabo knows that Ace is doing the same to him.

"You're not going to become a pirate, are you?" Ace asks quietly.

Sabo shouldn't be as surprised at the question as he is. After all – Ace knows him better than anybody, and knows his dream well, too. "No," he replies, voice wavering slightly but staying firm. "You and Luffy… You're D's. You're catalysts. Piracy's in your blood. But I…" He trails off.

"You want to change the world," Ace finishes in a sigh. "Sabo, I know. Ever since the fire of Grey Terminal, you've been like a freakin' coiled spring when it comes to everything that's wrong with the world. You're probably gonna run off to find the Revs, aren't you?" Sabo nods mutely, abruptly feeling oddly cowed, but Ace grins. "Then I'll see you on the Grand Line, little brother, once you've changed the world."

"Hey!" Teasing annoyance comes easily, and it's a break from the tension and a way to hide Sabo's giddy grin at his brother's approval. "'Little brother'? I'm only two months younger than you!"

"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you from down there."

"I'm taller than you!"

Ace laughs, long and loud, and Sabo unsuccessfully smothers his grin. Still chuckling, Ace reaches across to the pier and unties his boat, drifting a few feet away from Sabo. The blond does the same, and then, an idea hits him.

"Hey, Ace." He reaches up to the brim of his hat, grabs something that makes his brother's eyes widen. "Let's swap!"

* * *

"Ne, Ace?"

The newly-dubbed second division commander raises his head sleepily, trying to make out that he _wasn't_ just dozing off on watch. Thatch, evidently having just arrived through the trapdoor to the crow's nest, shoots his friend a look that states that it obviously isn't working, and plops down beside him.

"Wah…?" Mind fuzzy with sleep, Ace slapped himself lightly on the cheek. "Aye, Thatch."

"Are we pretending that I didn't just walk in on you sleeping on watch?" Thatch teases lightly.

"Yep," Ace yawns, rubbing his eyes. The pair sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, staring absently out over the water. The horizon is slowly starting to grey and the sky becomes soon streaked with lilacs and golds, painting the sea into a canvas of fire.

"Hey, Ace, I've been meaning to ask you something," That says suddenly. Ace raises an eyebrow, tilting his head to look up at his fellow commander.

"Yeah?" the teen asks, rolling over and letting one arm rest over his eyes. His elbow brace tickles the bridge of his nose.

"You wear that cowboy hat and the beads and all, but… what's with the goggles strapped to your hat?"

* * *

 _This_ , Sabo decides, _is not going well in the slightest_.

It all started as a simple stealth mission – infiltration of a new military base near the Calm Belt. There were rumours of a new devil fruit user there and even a few interesting pirates being imprisoned there; and Sabo was a curious man, so he volunteered. Now? He's feeling more than a hint of regret, and bafflement at what the hell his past self was thinking in equal measure.

The Mantis zoan surges forward, and it's only both of his hands and a thick coat of Haki that saves Sabo's ribs from being crushed by one of its blades. Then the other pincer comes up, narrowly missing his head. Duck. A quick jab that sends the fruit eater reeling. Sabo shoots forward, slams his fist into a fleshy gap between armoured plates.

The Marine flies back but as he stumbles, one blade rises as swipes across the front of Sabo's ratty old hat. Immediately at this, Sabo growls and sends a roundhouse kick straight at the fucker's head. He's down.

"I'd appreciate it if you watched the hat, s _ir_ ," the revolutionary grumbles, lifting the blue top hat off his head to inspect the damage. There's a small slash and a few flayed fibers, but the cut doesn't go all the way through, and Ace's beaded charm – the happy face and the frowning face surrounded by Dandan's beads – is intact.

Sabo grins.

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 **I loved writing this one! Please review! The next one might take a while, so I apologise in advance ;_;**


	5. Compass

**The Sun and Sea - Chapter 5**

 **'Compass'**

 **Main Character(s): Ace, Sabo, Luffy, slightly Zoro.**  
 **Set: Post-timeskip, Alive!Ace canon.**  
 **Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

 **Note -**

 **For Red, you should listen to This Dark Day by 12 Stones .  
** **For Blue, you should listen to Illuminated by Hurts.  
** **For Black, you should listen to Get Up by All Good Things.  
** **For Gold, you should listen to Home by Gabriella Apline**

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - The Stranger - Red**

Ace woke with a yell, lurching forwards, his hair falling into his eyes and dripping with cold sweat. He found himself lying under the same bridge he had fallen asleep beneath, in the same town he had aimlessly wandered into, in the same stretch of ocean that seemed to stretch for miles and miles and have no end to it's quaint little villages and measly little islands. An old, brown cloak made of a thick, scratchy material that chafed the man's skin was wrapped tightly around him. His old green backpack was tucked under the coat as well, and the ever-present log pose on his wrist was cracked. Stefan whined in what seemed to be a concerned way from beside him, and Ace sighed, rubbing the dog behind his ears with a weathered hand.

Shaking away the remnants of the nightmare, Ace sat up and stretched, glad that the spot his had chosen had yet to be submerged in water - for now, only the skin around his ankles was wet with the water flowing under the bridge. Pulling his aching body off the cold, wet ground, the former pyro clicked out the cricks in his neck and back; nobody to him that living rough was this uncomfortable. Then again, Ace had grown up with bandits. He had been practically living rough his entire life.

Hood up. Bag on back. Guard up. A whispered warning to Stefan to stay close. Back on the road.

It was the same everyday. The day Ace had woken up six feet under, apparently having 'died' in the Paramount War, he had grabbed his hat and his knife, and run, run all the way to the coast of the New World island on which he and his adoptive father had been buried. Some poor soul had left Ace's Striker in the tiny bay - it was rusted and broken and forlorn, but seeing it had been enough for Ace to break down once more, especially since the old man's dog, Stefan, was sitting in front of it, as if his mere presence could protect the boat and the green, animal-print bag strapped to the single mast. With how weak Ace had been, he probably could've.

Ace's devil fruit powers were long gone, the flames snuffed out like his life force had been only two years ago. Only the scar on his chest, ripping apart his Whitebeard tattoo reminded him of who he was, that and the pocket compass he carried with him, telling him how to get back to the first half of the grand line, back to his little brother who hadn't been seen for two years. Heck - he had to paddle his Striker with oars.

Ace stuck to the shadows as much as he could as he made his way back to the cost-side of town. Stefan whine occasionally, his Whitebeard-like moustache twitching, telling Ace that somebody was looking their way. The man just kept his head down, hoping to get away from the town with no incidents, until-

"Did you hear? That old rookie's back, the one with the straw hat!"

Ace froze, sinking further into the darkness and listening intently to the conversation held by three men leaning against the wall on the other side of the relatively quite street. Luffy had reappeared?

"Yeah," replied a blond. "'Heard he and his crew caused quite the ruckus in Sabaody."

Feeling relief wash over him like the sun, the former-pirate leant against the wall, and looked up at the orange-pink sky, tuning out the rest of the conversation. Luffy was alive and well, and was still a trouble magnet according to what those four had said.

"So, you're finally back, Luffy?"

Stefan growling was the only warning Ace had that he was no longer alone. The man glanced to the side in time to see a similarly hooded man leaning against the wall a few feet away. At first he thought he hadn't seen him, but Ace knew otherwise when the man, only a few inches shorter than him, looked up at him, only his mouth visible. The stranger grinned.

"Why hello, fellow fugitive," the man said, crossing his arms in a non threatening manner.

So the stranger was going to play it cool, huh? Well, if this man really was a fugitive too, there was no harm in making friends with him.

"Fugitive? Who're you calling a fugitive?" Ace replied jokingly, and was glad to see the man relax, his shoulder loosing their tenseness.

"You," he replied bluntly. Ace laughed.

"Want some company?"

"I'd be glad to accompany you, if that's what you're saying."

"Ah, shut it."

After that, it was safe to say that the pair got on like a house on fire. Apparently, the stranger had a boat, and, even though Ace knew that he shouldn't have been this trusting, he agreed to the offer of sticking together for a common goal. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen? The man seemed trustworthy, was travelling alone to reach Fishman island while keeping his identity a secret, just like Ace, and it would be more beneficial to the both of them to travel together until they reached their destination. The pair spent the day putting together what little money they had - this was mostly Stranger's funds, as Ace barely had two beris to rub together - and buying supplies the pair knew they would need from the limited amount of shops in the tiny village. All the while, Ace never saw the man's face, but didn't blame him. It wasn't like he was going to go around flashing his name left, right and centre.

It wasn't until nightfall - when the mismatched pair were just making their way to Stranger's ship, Ace heaving his striker over his back and Stefan trotting at the stranger's heels - that the visage of peace was broken. The ship belonging to Stranger was floating passively in the tiny bay, but there was only one problem.

It was surrounded by marines - and they didn't look friendly.

"You!" said the man at the front - he was wearing a long marine coat and had dull-blond hair shaved close to his skull. "We have reason to believe that you are allied with or part of the force known as the Revolutionary Army! You are hereby under arrest! Please come without a strug- Oomph!"

The captain was cut off by Stranger's knee making contact with his balls - he fell to the ground screaming as the marines around him looked on in shock for a second before seeming to realise that they were meant to be moving and pulling out their bayonet-guns, shooting and shooting at the pair and-

Ace was out of the way before the bullets were out of the chambers of the flimsy marine guns, and Stranger had apparently dived the other way, if the sound of the man rolling to the floor and coming to a controlled halt was anything to go by. Even after two years being buried in the ground, Ace refused to admit that he had lost his touch, so in a split-second, he was up there with Stranger, fists flying as he took down marine after marine. These were New World marines, so they were tougher than your average Blues navy dogs, but together, Ace and Stranger worked through them until they reached the boat.

Ace swung his Striker onto the deck of the boat - apparently called the Yonder Kraken, whatever the hell that meant - and soon followed after, leaping on after it. Stranger, his clothes slightly ruffled, followed him, and went straight to the wheel, pulling the ship out of the bay as the marines groaned in defeat and Ace made perverted hand gestures towards the fallen soldiers, laughing more than he had in years in the evening sun.

It was only ten minutes later, when the pair were far from the village, that Ace realised his hood had fallen back.

Three seconds after Stranger's fist had connected with his face

"HOW DARE YOU?!" the man roared, sounding older than he had all day. "HOW DARE YOU STEAL ACE'S FACE!"

Ace flew back into the railing and lay still for a few seconds, before struggling to sit up, whipping blood from the side of his mouth. He looked up in time to swerve to the left of a - noticeably shaky - punch, and was up on his feet in a second, going to painlessly sweep the stranger's feet from under him, but Stranger was faster, jabbing sharply at Ace's neck and then swinging his knee across his face, hard. The black-haired man crumpled, seeing stars, and hit the floor with an echoing bang. When Ace opened his eyes, there was a shining, black dagger between his eyes, a centimetre from his skin, and the man was sitting heavily on his chest.

"What the hell was that for?!" Ace asked incredulously, looking from side to side for Stefan. Wasn't that dog meant to be a bodyguard?!

"I knew Portgas D. Ace!" the Stranger practically screams, sounding rageful and avenging and hysterical. "I knew him, and I know that he's dead! Long... DEAD!"

The black sheen covering the dagger faded away like smoke in the air, and the man seemed to slump; the knife slipped and cut into Ace's neck slightly, but he didn't have the heart to turn into flame. Whoever this man was - be it a member of his old crew, a Whitebeard Pirate or a civilian - he was aching over Ace's supposed death, and seeing the man here was like salt in the wounds. Ace couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, be angry.

Ace pushed the man off him as gently as he could - which, really, wasn't very gently - and sat back against the railings, tentatively touching his rapidly swelling black eye, before turning to the Stranger, who's knife was still aimed at his throat.

"Look," he started. "I know it sounds crazy, and I know you won't believe me, but I really am Ace. I don't know how I survived, and I don't know why I'm here, but-"

The stranger growled, cutting off Ace, and the black-haired man looked on in slight trepidation as he pulled himself off the ground and stared down at him.

"If you really are Ace," Stranger said in a dead-sounding voice, "then answer me one question. Who were your two brothers?"

The world around Ace seemed to freeze - the seagulls stopped flying and the tide stopped moving and the sun slowed it's journey across the sky just to watch. He stared, wide-eyed at the man, and suddenly, he knew exactly who he was, even though it was impossible, even though his oldest younger brother was long dead. The sky rapidly turning scarlet red, the ocean morphing into waves of fire around them in the sunset, Ace stood and faced the Stranger, looking him right in the eye.

"Luffy. Luffy and Sabo."

The man made a choked noise that sounded shocked, angry and incredibly happy at the same time. While he was distracted, his guard was down, and Ace took that opportunity to pull back his hood, looking at him intensely as the sun illuminated his face from over Ace's shoulder.

Blonde hair, slightly wavy, was parted on either side of his face and came down to shoulders far broader then they had been when they were young. A scar covered his left eye like some kind of grizzly war paint. Round, black eyes, the only resemblance the man shared with Luffy, now both full of shadows and some kind of ever-enduring hope.

"Sabo…" Ace muttered, "Sabo! How? -W-What?" I- mph!"

Ace was abruptly, roughly cut off by a near-sobbing Sabo colliding with his chest and refusing to let go. Ace felt slightly uncomfortable at first - he and Sabo had never been the most touchy-feely people in the world - but then Sabo muttered a muffled 'I thought you were dead so hug me back you bastard' and everything was back to how it should've been.

Ace allowed himself to cry for the fist time since his resurrection, just thankful, so thankful , that his brother was alive.

"We left Stefan at port, didn't we?" asked Sabo in a muffled voice. Ace laughed shakily, letting his tired legs give out, knowing that, just for a while, his brother would be able to keep him standing until he had the strength to stand again.

"Yep, Sabo. Yes we did."

Ace couldn't help the sudden grin that spread over his face. Today was the best day he'd had in so, so long! His dead brother was alive, and his alive brother was alive as well, and his narcolepsy hadn't even-

"Godamnitt Ace!"

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - The Phoenix - Blue**

Marco the Phoenix sat on the bow of the relatively small sailing boat, staring out at the blue, blue ocean. The much, much smaller crew had first begun sailing the Moby Dick again, but it felt too empty, to large for the fraction of it's occupants left standing. More and more people had left - splitting off into smaller pirate crews or joining existing ones until the only ones left were all of the surviving commanders and, strangely enough, all of the surviving people of Ace's division. It was no secret that they had all been close to their captain, and didn't want to betray his memory.

Nobody disturbed him on days like this, days when the Zoan-user would just stared out at the sea blankly, no expression on his face and nothing in his eyes but remorse and hatred and grief. They all had days like this.

Ever since the death of Ace, Whitebeard and so many other Whitebeard pirates two years ago, nothing had been the same. The remaining crew members had floated aimlessly around the Blues for a year or so, before deciding to return to Paradise, and that's where they were headed now. What they would do there, none of the crew knew, but there were rumours of a man and his companion storming the New World and only now emerging into Paradise, and, though he had no idea why, Marco had a feeling that he needed to meet this strange duo, needed to know who they were.

Strawhat, the brother Ace had given his life for, was back now, and apparently he was even more of a monster than before. He and his crew were headed to Fishman Island, no-doubt to reach the New World, and had left a messy chaos back at Sabaody Archipelago - just another crazy exploit adding to his list of incredibly explosive schemes and insane, legendary plots. Marco didn't blame the boy for Ace's death - after all, it wasn't his fault - but he couldn't help feeling a certain animosity towards the happy-go-lucky teen for living, while two of the best men Marco had ever known had died.

Marco shook his head, as if trying to erase all of the thoughts that had consumed him for months. He was a phoenix - this wasn't what he did. He was meant to rise from the ashes, pull himself up, and that was the opposite of what he was doing now. He, now the captain of what remained of the Whitebeard Pirates, was doing exactly what he told everybody else not to do - dwelling on the past. Now that they were heading to the grand line, and they couldn't afford distractions, not now.

"Captain!" called a voice from behind the blond, and Marco turned to see Izo, eternal pose in hand, ready to inform the leader of where they were. Much to Marco's chagrin, the entire crew refused to call him anything but 'captain' or 'sencho' now. The blond was tired of feeling like he was replacing his father.

"Yeah, Izo?" he responded easily, quashing a rising yawn. "How far to the next island?"

"About three hours," replied the crossdresser, looking a little concerned at his friends tired visage but leaving it be. Marco was nothing if not independent. "We're on course, but there's a small fishing boat approaching. No identifying flag - but they've raised peace signal. What should we do?"

Marco considered for a second. If the approaching sailors, whoever they were, were showing peace signal, then they were either marines in disguise, or pirates wanting to talk to Marco. No pirate with any pride would raise peace signal, then attack when the other ship let their guard down.

"...Alright," the devil-fruit user eventually replied, standing and slipping down off the bow. "But keep an eye on their deck - see if you can see who their captain is.

"'Course, Captain," Izo replied, turning and repeating his orders to the rag-tag crew. Marco leant back against the railings, squinting across the blue, blue sea with eyes trained like a hawk's to see the rickety-looking sailing boat approaching - not that their ship was much better. There was a single figure up on deck, and another appeared to be coming up from below. There was a white blob as well, sitting on the stern, and Marco had to stare hard to make out that it was a relatively small dog who was barking happily at the approaching ship - for some reason, that bark was familiar. Too familiar.

The ship was speeding up - the wind with it as it turned to sail alongside the Whitebeard's ship. The figure on deck could be seen clearly - he was a relatively tall, well-built blond, with happy, round eyes that looked like they were searching for something, someone. What, Marco couldn't tell.

The Phoenix walked alongside the railing until he was parallel to the blond. The stranger was wearing strangely noble-like clothes - a blue tailcoat, tall top hat and black boots. He had a long, black pole strapped to his back, and the way he held himself, he could fight, and fight well. Despite this, he looked slightly nervous.

"Who are you, -yoi?" Marco got straight to the point.

The stranger rubbed the back on his head humbly, flashing a smile so warm and genuine that most watching had to ignore the urge to smile back - and damn, if that smile didn't remind Marco of Ace.

"I'm Sabo, of the Revolutionary Army," the man started. "I... Have someone here you might want to meet."

"Revolutionary Army..." Marco trailed off. "What does Dragon want with us?"

The blond raised his arms in a peace gesture, shaking his head quickly. "No, it's nothing like that, I swear! I'm taking some time away from...work to help someone who really wants to see you all. More than you know." The man paused, looking behind him, down below deck to where the other passenger was. "Oi, Baka, this is no time to be getting shy. Come on out."

A dog barked that same all-too familiar bark, and instead of a man emerging, the dog did instead, rocketing across the small deck and jumping across the gap between the boats - straight at Thatch. The stranger yelled - 'No, Stefan!' - and Thatch made a muffled sound from beneath the dog attached to his face, but Marco was so busy looking closely at the dog to realise. The mutt couldn't really be their Stefan, right? But then Thatch had pulled the white dog off his face and was holding him at arm's length - there was no doubt about it, it was Whitebeard's old dog, signature moustache-like hair and all. The dog yelped joyfully, going from one happy crewmate to the next, taking in their familiar scents, and once Marco had had his fair share of Stefan-love, he looked up at the softly-smiling stranger, confusion shown plain as day across his face.

"Where did you find him?" Marco asked, a cross between happy and confused and mistrustful. "We looked everywhere... We thought he'd died in the War."

"It... Wasn't exactly me..." said the revolutionary, Sabo, as if he had to inform Marco about his looming execution and didn't know how; grasping blindly at straws. "I..."

"It was me."

All movement on both decks ceased - everybody froze, even the ever-unshakable Marco. That voice, that incredibly familiar voice ringing through his head, echoing on the air like the last ring of a bell couldn't really be there, could't, because it's owner was long dead and long gone, six feet under on that tiny, unreachable island in the New World. The new captain, the captain that felt as if the world and then some rested on his shoulders, turned in what felt like slow-motion, light glinting off the sea and into his eyes and into his heart as the sun made it's first appearance in days, shining down on their faces, illuminating the damned pirates and sending everything into focus. And there, on the other deck, was Ace.

Marco knew he shouldn't trust this. He shouldn't take this blonde's word for it, shouldn't believe that this really is Ace standing in front of him and not some imposter, but he did anyway because nobody in the world could imitate that unnaturally-wide, close-eyed smile, that relaxed posture that shouldn't have been present in situations like these; even those black, determined eyes that told of a hard past and harder future couldn't be copied. Portgas D. Ace was standing in front of him, awake and alive and breathing, and damnitt all, Marco was stuck between getting over there and punching him into next Tuesday and hugging his best friend and never letting go. The phoenix settled on staring, just staring intensely, as if he can make the man who died more tangible with his gaze, make sure that he's alive just with his hope-filled blue eyes.

Apparently, though, this wasn't enough for the rest of the crew, or, more specifically, Ace's division. They were across to the other deck in a second, faster then Marco had ever seen them move, clinging to their commander like their lives depended in it like some kind of living, breathing mass of sobbing, blubbering kaizokou. Ace looked like he was suffocating for a second, and Sabo was close to stepping in just so his brother didn't start asphyxiating, but stopped himself when he saw the wide, raw smile on Ace's face that showed how happy he was to be back.

One by one, the commanders darted across from their ship to join the crush, giving up on being cautious and just wanting to have the teen that melted all of their hearts back. Marco was the last - let it be said, he was punching Ace as he hugged him, but was hugging him nonetheless. Sabo started laughing, just because the scene was so ridiculous, but was cut off abruptly as he was pulled into the centre.

From the centre of the crush, Ace laughed shakily. He couldn't stay here - to many memories, to much bitterness - but nothing was stopping him from enjoying being with his family while it lasted.

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - The Monkey - Black**

"You _bastard_."

Seastone cuffs locked around his ankles, carving long, thick lines into his skin. Skin flushed a bright scarlet just shades lighter then the tar-like blood streaming into his eyes. Teeth gritted in a constant grimace of pain, the opposite of their usual smile.

Monkey D. Luffy was a mess. Chained to what felt like a wall and looking like death warmed over, the teen looked every bit as weak as the man antagonising him was saying he was. His crew, his nakama, were chained to the left of the captain, most struggling frantically, trying desperately to escape and help their captain.

None other than Blackbeard paced before the captive teen. According to him, Akainu was on his way as well - since when did Admirals make agreements with Yonko?

"Oh, you'll pay for that one, boy," Blackbeard cackled - as if he'd been waiting for Luffy to say that. The man, the traitor, pulled his fist back, as if he had to aim at Luffy from a foot away. Frankly, the teen was a sitting duck.

Nami, frustrated, turned to Zoro - the only one not struggling.

"Zoro!" she half-screeched. "Why aren't you struggling?! You're the only one here with half a chance of being able to escape-"

"Sorry, no can do, Witch," the man cut her off. "They gave me seastone cuffs. The damn stuff's tough."

Nami looked shocked for a minute, before making a 'tch' sound and rolling her eyes. "Only you, baka."

"Zoro?" Luffy interrupted, looking down, and the crew looked over at him to see that he was preparing himself for the punch that would sent a literal earthquake through his body. "…Teach hurt Nami and Sanji." He pauses. "And… He's the reason Ace is dead. That's three people. Got it, Zoro?"

The green-haired swordsman stared intently at the captain for a few seconds before smirking and nodding, looking much more relaxed. "Got it, Captain."

And then the punch from the traitorous pirate was swinging at Luffy - the rest of his crew cried out in warning, but the teen did nothing to dodge. The earthquake could be seen literally tearing through the teen's body, and the Strawhats bar Zoro were screaming out in protest, struggling harder than ever to escape. Luffy's head flew back - his eyes were blank and rolled back but he wasn't screaming; no matter what, Monkey D. Luffy refused to scream in front of his brother's killer.

And then, just like that, it was over. Nami slumped back against the wall, silent tears streaming down her face - Chopper was sobbing, begging to be let free so he could tend to Luffy, and Franky had tears in his eyes. Sanji spat out a chipped piece of tooth; he had been clenching his teeth so tightly that it had snapped clean off. Robin looked up weakly, blue eyes uncharacteristically panicked, and Brook looked grave.

A brief second of silence. Blood trickled down from the side of Luffy's mouth. It started again.

Usopp struggled blindly. Never before had he felt this weak, this helpless to protect and aid his crew. Luffy had saved his village - protected the love of his life and let him come out to sea with him, and now all he could do was sit here? Pathetic.

The second punch ended - Blackbeard was cackling now, and Luffy looked like death warmed over. His skin was torn and chafed - worn hard in some places like worn leather, dyed sickly yellow and cracked like old paper simply from the pressure being placed on it.

The third came now - this one was far worse than the others. Blood and sweat dripped from every pore - nearly every Strawhat was screaming out in protest, but Blackbeard didn't stop, didn't hesitate to destroy Luffy's body bit by bit. Brook looked the worst - he'd never seen Luffy in this kind of state before, and frankly, he never wanted to again. Even though Zoro was still and silent, keeping his head down, there was a tension in his shoulders that portrayed his hatred of the situation - hatred of Blackbeard for hurting his captain like this.

But still, Luffy didn't scream.

Blackbeard drew his fist back yet again to deliver the fourth earthquake-fuelled punch, but this time, just as the grotesque man swung his meaty fist forwards, the fatty knuckles shining white with the power of the Gura-Gura no Mi, he was interrupted by a clear, sharp, ringing 'crack'.

All movement in the room froze - the Strawhats and the traitor, even Luffy, all turned their heads towards Zoro, who was chained and bound, head down, eyes glinting like he really was the Demon of East Blue. A crack ran through his Seastone cuffs, splitting them like some kind of grisly gash marring skin. One more push, one more second, and they would come clean off the wall. The Demon would be let loose.

Zoro raised his head and grinned.

* * *

"That idiot!"

"Ace?" Sabo tried, nearly running to keep up with the older. "Just... Calm down, alright? Uhh... It won't be long until we- ACE NO, DAMNITT!"

Ace stood up precariously on the bow of their ship which, in his opinion, was moving far, far too slow. The pair had left the Whitebeard pirates two or three weeks ago after staying with them for a month or so, and immediately set off on Luffy's trail. Ace's old nakama were welcoming and warm towards Sabo while they stayed there- "You're extended family! Like a cousin or somethin'" Hatuta had said -but they couldn't stay with them forever. Their little brother needed them.

So, the pair had set off into the New World again, hoping that Luffy hadn't caused too much immeasurable damage to it, only to hear news that the young captain and his crew had been captured - captured by Blackbeard. So, thus, Portgas D. Ace had launched into 'Frantic Older Brother Mode' (because yes, that did deserve capitals), and Sabo hadn't been much better; but he had to keep Ace from blowing up the universe as well, making him a verrrrry crabby revolutionary. (Well, that was the understatement of the century, but at least they were alive, eh?)

And now they were on that same boat (albeit with a few minor changes - namely fireproofing), rocketing through the new world on the way to their only lead - a previously-inhabited island to the south of that half of the grand line, now occupied by Blackbeard. At best, Luffy and his crew would be unharmed and in control - the worst situations, Ace didn't want to think about.

He'd had enough.

The fire user, suddenly deciding to take action, literally pulled Sabo off the ground by the scruff of his neck (AN- Think Gajeel and Levy style XP), threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes - despite his brother's yells of protest - and grabbed his Striker, which had been lying on the deck. It was true that he couldn't use it now his powers were gone, but he could paddle - and he could paddle fast. Problem was, Ace only had one remaining oar.

Wait.

Ace snuck a look at his captive brother, who was still calling for his painful, immediate death.

Hm. That could work.

"..."

Splash.

"ACCCCEEEEE!"

* * *

All light was gone from the sky by now. The boy on guard had been a second from falling asleep about five minutes ago - after all, what was the worst that could happen? - when a loud, girlish scream had echoed from the cell where the prisoners were being kept. The boy had frozen because as much as he hated to admit it, that voice had sounded awfully like his boss's. He had considered going down to the cells, just to see if Blackbeard needed any help, but the captain had said not to bother him under any circumstances, and he didn't want to be kicked out on his first week of duty. He was already the laughing stock of the crewmen.

Oh, the crewmen. What the boy wouldn't do to shove their jeering taunts and deep, rumbling, hearty laughs and irritating jibes right back at their faces. He had only joined because of Captain Blackbeard; the boy didn't need those idiot crewmates annoying him while he tried to get on Sencho's good side. And for all of the long, tedious hours he spent-

The boy froze. A faint, distant yell - he was sure he had heard it, clear as a bell as it rang across the sea. Was it an incoming boat trying to get the base's attention? A lost sailor, close to being shipwrecked? A prisoner being carted into the base on a Blackbeard ship? The boy raised his telescope and walked to the nearest window out onto the stormy, grey ocean. The wind was picking up, howling across the sea, and a storm was brewing in the black clouds in the sky, but the boy could still see the ocean clearly in the lighthouse's beams of yellow light, and there was no ship to be found on the high, rolling waves. But... Where had that yell come from? The boy was sure that it had started out on the ocean - that was the direction it had come from, anyway.

And then, he saw it. A yellow and white boat - barely a raft - danced a jig on the waves as it neared the shore, spinning and veering madly on it's course. A man stood at the bow - the boy focussed his telescope, but all he could make out was a shock of black hair and something orange hanging around his neck, circular and three-dimensional. He was rowing with obviously powerful arms, and the boy found it strange that one oar was times ticker than the other... And appeared to be writhing...

The ship was close to shore by now, and the boy took out a small Den-Den Mushi from his pocket; after a few short words with the Commander, he was back to watching the raft, which was now on land. He reached behind him and pulled out the small but bulky shotgun which he'd never had to use before, and aimed at the man now stepping off the raft and onto the rocky cliffside of the island, a few hundred metres off the base itself. The boy squinted and wiggled his gun to get a good vantage point - nobody said it was this hard! - before he knew he had it and pulled the trigger and-

Nothing happened.

Wait what?

The boy pulled the trigger again, this time much harder, but again nothing happened; no bullets, no bang. What was he doing wrong?

Suddenly, the man's head snapped to the side and he stared the boy right in the eyes in a second - the boy jumped and scrambled back from the window as the glare that he couldn't even see clearly peirced him like a knife. In a second, the 'oar' - which now appeared to be a tall, blonde man yelling at the first person - had seen him too, and, after pulling the raft completely out of the way of the waves, the pair started to run towards the base. The boy started to feel horribly ominous. Why wouldn't his gun just hurry up and work?!

His panic grew when the pair started scaling the building - he was only on the second floor, what if they reached him?! Still, his gun refused to fire, and the boy slowly started to back away down the corridor when suddenly, loud footsteps that sounded like they were being placed by sandals echoed from that direction and the boy knew he was trapped; that was the direction of the dungeons, and a prisoner must have escaped! He was going to die! He was only on his first week as a pirate and he was going to-

"Hey. You."

The boy was almost too terrified to turn back to the window, but managed to force his body to face it; there perched a black-haired, shirtless man with an orange cowboy hat around his neck and something dangerous in his eyes. The boy was shaking now. "Do you know where the Strawhat Pirates are being kept?" the man demanded.

The boy could only point dumbly around the corner, and the next second something collided with his temple and everything went black.

Sabo hopped down from the window after Ace and stood above the unconscious boy, nudging him with the toe of his black boot. "You really didn't have to knock him out, you know," he told his brother dully.

"We don't have time for this!" Ace was already in full-blown older brother mode. "What could that bastard be doing to-"

"Calm down, you idiot, someone'll hear us!" Sabo hissed, hitting Ace upside the head, and the pyro rubbed the forming lump childishly.

But the problem was, someone already had.

"Ace..!"

Said pirate looked up from his pouting towards the direction the kid had pouted and felt everything freeze around him - Sabo looked around as well, and his breath caught in his throat like grit. There stood the very reason that the pair had come here, eyes impossibly wide, covered in blood that Ace hoped to god wasn't his own. Luffy looked like hell; he was pale and bloody and suddenly not seeming quite as dangerous. His black eyes were huge - black pupils dilated, black at the corners of his vision, black filling his head. Luffy felt like he'd just been punched all over again - only much, much harder.

"Ace..! Ace!" His speech became more and more frantic. "Ace!"

"Luffy..." the older muttered.

This was what snapped the teen out of his trance - a blur shot across the corridor and a second later Luffy was colliding with Ace with the force of a bazooka. At first, Ace wasn't sure whether he was being attacked or hugged, but it became clear which one once Luffy started openly sobbing like the crybaby he always had been. Ace smiled fondly and returned the hug; Luffy had always been clingy, so this was second nature to him. After a few minutes of incoherent sobs and Luffy-blubbering, Ace managed to pry him of, and was pinned with the Puppy Dog Eyes Of Doom. The man winced.

"Look... Sorry, but there's someone you need'ta meet," he said, and set Luffy at the ground, pointing at the other brother. Luffy turned and raised an eyebrow uncomprehendingly, still swiping tears from his eyes.

"Who're you?" the rubber teen asked bluntly, and Sabo laughed loudly despite looking a little hurt.

"You wound me, Luffy," he joked, and Luffy's eyes widened at his voice as he connected the dots. "Don't you recognise me?"

"...SABO!"

* * *

When Fleet Admiral Akainu arrived at Blackbeard's base with his miniature armada of ships (just in case those damn pirates tried anything shifty), he found two tons of rubble, a long, blue and ripped tailcoat and a concussed boy muttering about oars with cowboy hats and screaming guns that didn't work no matter what he did.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 - The Compass - Gold**

Ace smiled softly down at his calloused hands, sitting on a roof in the dark of early morning. Luffy had left a week ago, determined to carry on, carry on fighting and searching for the One Piece with his nakama until the day he found it or the day he died. Sabo had left only a few days later - he had been gone from the Revolutionary army for far too long, and, from what Ace had snooped out, he even had a girl waiting for him back there. A tiny tinge of betrayal curled in Ace's gut, but he ignored it. He was the big brother - what kind of one would he be if all he did was wish for the younger two's company?

But, where would he go now? As far as the world knew, he was dead - he could hardly renown his name if all he was known as a was 'the man who died'. He could go back to the Whitebeard Pirates - no, that wouldn't happen. That ship was full of memories, dreams, nightmares. There was no place for the pyro there now.

He could return to East Blue - Dandan, Makino, the other mountain bandits and the occasionally visiting Garp would be happy to know he was alive, even if some of them wouldn't show it. Then again, Ace didn't want to spend the rest of his life hiding out in the mountains on some far-off island. That was the thing he least wanted to do right now.

Ace shook his head roughly. All of this thinking was giving him a headache. He glanced down at the worn, old pocket compass in his hands. It was broken - the needle was off calibration, and the glass was cracked. Now the damn thing was useless - the needle just pointed in a random direction, changing it's position every few hours rather pointlessly. Useless.

But… It wasn't. The delicate metal rod pointed in a different direction all the time, towards a different enemy - a different obstacle, a different dream. Maybe the broken compass that had guided him for so long would point him to a new friend - a brother or sister, a new nakama to accompany him on his journey. With no destination, Ace could go anywhere.

Just as the sky started to lighten, Ace turned to face the golden, rising sun that could nearly be seen over the horizon - the unrepairable instrument in his hand felt like an invaluable charm, not something broken beyond repair. The man was ready to set sail - the details like finding a boat and preparing didn't matter anymore.

Ace turned away from the light just becoming blinding, and walked away, following a pointless, broken compass that pointed nowhere, ready to sail again.

* * *

 **Review and favorite, please! I had a lot of fun writing this.**

 **-OMAKE-**

 **Ace looked up from Stefan to see a hooded stranger lean against the wall beside him and remove his hood, looking at the other expectantly, as if he expected him to recognise him. Well, the blonde was pretty familiar...**

 **"You look familiar, have I threatened you before?"**

 **The blonde stared for a second before facepalming and walking away.**

 **-OMAKE2-**

 **Ace looked up from Stefan to see a hooded stranger lean against the wall beside him and remove his hood, looking at the other expectantly, as if he expected him to recognise him. Well, the blonde was pretty familiar...**

 **"Who. The fuck. Are you?"**

 **"Who the fuck are you?"**

 **"I asked you first!"**

 **"I asked you second!"**

 **-OMAKE3-**

 **Ace turned away from the light just becoming blinding, and walked away, following a pointless, broken compass that pointed nowhere, ready to sail again.**

 **But not before falling asleep in the middle of his dramatized exit and falling off the roof, of course.**

 **Start- 3.50 AM, Thursday.**

 **End- 8.07 PM, Sunday.**


	6. Waiting

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 6**

 **'Waiting'**

 **Main character(s): Sabo, Ace  
Set: Canon. Post-timeskip.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

* * *

"Hey, Ace."

Sabo sits, blue coat ruffled beneath him, and crosses his long legs. It's been a few years now since Ace saw him, and that coat has a few more tears and signs of age than before – the blonde himself hasn't changed much if you don't count the crow's feet around his eyes and the scars he's picked up with passing time. Ace perches on the stone in front of him, grinning at the sight of his slightly younger brother. The son of the pirate king hasn't changed a bit.

Removing his pipe from his back, the young revolutionary places it neatly at his side. Luffy couldn't make it. Their little brother is close to Raftel, now, and doesn't have time to take a trip back from the far stretch of the New World to be here. Still, when Sabo pulls out three cups and a bottle of Sake, he pours Luffy a portion almost unconsciously. Ace slips down from the cold stone to mirror his brother's position on the other side of the crate.

"It's been a while." Sabo's smiling, but his eyes are dark.

"That it has," Ace replies in a teasing tone. He reaches up to tip his cowboy hat, before realising that he doesn't have it.

"Luffy's changing. Hell – he's changing everything. Since the Surgeon of Death was killed a few months ago, he's been… can I say angry?"

Ace snorts. "I get what you mean. Lu's hardly ever really _angry_ angry, huh?"

Sabo thinks for a second. "I guess you could call it indignant. At the world. Like you used to be. I mean, it was only meant to be an alliance between crews, but it's lasted for years and Luffy gets close to people. As far as I know, Trafalgar was practically _Nakama_. Family." Sabo sighs, looking older than his twenty-seven years, and Ace's brow furrows in concern. There are shadows in his eyes that he most certainly doesn't want to see there.

But a split second passes and then they're gone. Maybe Sabo picked up the habit of hiding his emotions from working undercover with the revolutionaries – maybe he even learnt it in High Town as a kid. There, at least, finery and fake are all the rage.

"He's not just a pirate anymore. The slavery situation has gotten worse, and people in the Blues are suffering from disease and capture, and the World Government don't seem to give a damn anymore. Luffy's a sign of rebellion. He's helping people – has been since he left Dawn. I don't know. People see him as more of a renegade, an insurgent, than a pirate."

Ace stays silent, waiting for his brother to continue as he stares into his Sake cup. "I'm proud of him," Sabo says quietly. His blue eyes are shadowed by his hat, but he's smiling softly. "I'm proud of all of us."

"Me, too," Ace murmurs soberly. It doesn't need saying. He'll always be proud of his brothers – unless one of them was a marine, and then he'd kick their ass and be proud of them anyway. "Hey, have you heard that, if you exchange sake…"

"-You can become brothers?" Sabo finishes. He looks up, and tears swim in his stormy eyes. "Yeah."

The fugitive raises his cup, tapping it against his two brothers', and knocks it back. When he puts it down, the tears are gone, and he smiles under the brim of his hat. "Thanks, brother." He stands, straightening his clothes and grasping his pipe, and then he turns and starts to walk away. Ace smiles a rare, slightly tender smile. Yeah, he's proud of his brothers, more than anything.

"I'll see you around!" he calls.

"See you, Ace." Sabo doesn't turn back, and his brother watches him until he's out of sight. The sun is setting now, and Ace forces back tears that brim in his eyes, grinning even as his vision blurs.

By the time the sun rises the next day, he's perched on his grave once more, waiting.

* * *

 **Done! I hope you enjoyed!**


	7. The Other Way

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 7**

 **' _The Other Way_ '**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Sabo, Luffy  
Set: In an alternate universe where Luffy is the oldest brother and Ace and Sabo are the captains of the Mugiwara crew (or, in this world, The Club and Spade Pirates). AU, not OC crew, Revolutionary!Luffy, Pirate!Sabo and Ace.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

* * *

 **Information-**

 **Revolutionary Army - B Division**

 **Monkey D Luffy AKA 'Mugiwara Gentleman'. Bounty- 413,000,000, Dead only.**  
 **Blackblade Kuina AKA 'The Demon Empress'. Bounty- 350,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Trafalgar D Water Law AKA 'The Surgeon of Death'. Bounty- 295,000,000, Alive only.**  
 **Eustass Kidd AKA ''Captain' Kidd'. Bounty- 295,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Jewellery Bonney AKA 'Big Eater'. Bounty- 250,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Nico Robin AKA 'Devil's Child'. Bounty- 175,000,000, Alive only.**  
 **Franky AKA ''Cyborg' Franky'. Bounty- 145,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Brook AKA ''All Bones' Brook'. Bounty- 100,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 ** _Total bounty- 2,023,000,000_**

 **The Spade and Club Pirates**

 **Portgas D Ace AKA ''Fire-Fist' Ace'. Bounty- 60,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Outlook D Sabo AKA ''Blue Beater' Sabo'. Bounty- 50,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Roronoa Zoro AKA ''Pirate Hunter' Zoro'. Bounty- 50,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Sanji AKA 'Black-Leg Sanji'. Bounty- 45,000,000, Alive only.**  
 **Nami AKA 'Cat-Burglar Nami'. Bounty- 16,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Ussop AKA 'King of Snipers'. Bounty- 10,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Nefertari Vivi AKA 'Desert Warrior Vivi'. Bounty- 6,000,000, Dead or Alive.**  
 **Tony-Tony Chopper AKA 'Pet'. Bounty- 50, Dead or Alive.**  
 ** _Total Bounty- 237,000,050_**

* * *

"I'm dying…"

Sabo rolled his eyes at his brother's antics. After the fifth kitchen raid in one week, Sanji had finally decided that enough was enough. Ace's servings had been cut down by almost fifty percent (he still ate more than a normal man would eat in a week, but Ace was in no way normal), and when the blackmail of his co-captain, the temper of his whole crew and the loss of his dignity were on the line, the fire-user listened, not wanting to have a redo of 'the Seaking incident' again. Sabo watched as Ace resumed begging Sanj for more food, sighing.

"Here, baka," the pipe-wielder grumbled exasperatedly, shoving his plate across the table at his slightly-younger brother and watching with barely-disguised affection as the pyro dug in happily.

Sanji gave him a mild, half-hearted glare but, in a second, he was noodling over to Nami and showering her with compliments as he refilled her drink and dissolved into a noodling hurricane of idiocy. Chopper, the second-newest official member of the Club and Spade Pirates, giggled happily as he climbed over Zoro like the man was a jungle gym. Nami ignored Sanii as Usopp spun her an unlikely tale of his encounter with a pair of giant, feirce chipmunks who's main attack was projectile vomit.

After Vivi's final, tough decision had been made, the group had left Alabasta about a week ago with a new official member in their midst. She had been quite subdued for the last few days, mulling over her decision to leave her people for good, but the crew reassured her that if anything bad was to happen to Alabasta, they would be there in a heartbeat. That, at least, seemed to help.

Ace took the relaxed atmosphere and complete consumption of his mountain of food as cue to fall asleep, almost at the exact same second as Zoro. Their foreheads hit the table in synchronisation. Whether it be narcolepsy or just disinterest in his surroundings, both teens had the both annoying an endearing habit of falling asleep at inconvenient times.

After Sanji had shooed the group of young pirates out of his precious kitchen so that he could start cleaning up, Sabo lugged Ace and Zoro, one on either shoulder, out onto the main deck, the movement shooting pain up his bandaged back. The sun was slowly sinking in the sky to the right of the Going Merry, and the wooden panels gleamed in the light. The sky was pure and cloudless, the air, active; it made Sabo feel like he couldn't sit still. Like something was coming.

Scanning the ocean with narrow eyes, the blond let Zoro and Ace fall off his shoulders to the floor - the two still didn't stir - and saw nothing but clear, blue ocean for miles, before the line between sea and sky blurred and his eyes could see no further. However, Sabo was sure, now, that something was coming. His spine was tingling. His eyes were darting. The seventeen-year old suddenly had the strangest feeling that he was forgetting something. Something was coming. Now.

"Sabo?" Nami spoke from behind him, and Sabo flinched, even though she sounded concerned. "Are you ok?"

"Damnitt," the teen growled suddenly, catching all of the crew's attention but Sanji's, who was still in the kitchen, and Ace and Zoro's, who were still asleep. Sabo dropped to his knees beside his brother and their joint first-mate, shaking the dark-haired youth awake frantically and cursing under his breath. By now, the whole crew had gathered around, and were wondering what had happened to get the usually calm older captain to be freaking out like this.

" _Whaattt_ , Saabboo?" Ace moaned, finally waking and squinting up at his brother, annoyed at being woken. "Is your back bad again? Cos' Chopper-"

"Idiot!" said brother replied, and Ace, seeing the almost desperate look on his brother's face, forced himself awake. "What day is it today?"

"Err..." Ace replied, thinking hard. "May the fifth, I think. Why-"

Suddenly, Ace froze and looked out to the left, then the right, stiff and tense. One could almost see the cogs in his brain working. He now had the feeling, too. He turned back to Sabo, eyes demanding an explanation.

"Is it Gramps' birthday?"

"Not the shitty geezer's, that's in three days."

"Is it national marine day?"

"Nope, that's in August."

"Is it the end of the world?"

"Possibly."

"Usopp's birthday...?"

"Nah, not yet."

Sabo growled in annoyance. This was getting the pair nowhere.

"May fifth... May fifth..."

Then, the pair froze.

 _Shit._

* * *

"Fuck you! Fuck you and your shitty, expensive crap! Damn bird!"

Luffy laughed happily as he watched his best friend, Kuina, raging at the terrified-looking mail-coo who was perched high up on the rigging so as to escape the swordswoman's wrath. This was a typical part of an average day on the _Fair Firefly_ ; Kuina's irrational hatred of birds was surfacing yet again, and Law, Kidd and Franky had made it their goal to stay as far away from the woman at this time in the morning as possible. Robin was chuckling from a deck chair across from the drama that was unfolding, Brook was sipping tea in the crow's nest and Bonney was being Bonney; she was in the kitchen, eating.

The B Division of the Revolutionary army was one of the smallest subsections of the force, having only eight members, but was by far one of the strongest. The _Fair Firefly_ was a proud, nimble ship, easily one of fastest of its kind, and the group of Revolutionaries worked under their Division Leader, Monkey D Luffy or 'Mugiwara Gentleman', as he was more commonly known. In truth, the rubber-brain was anything but a gentleman - he was loud and unpredictable and rude - but the rest of the B Division had learned how to deal with it. The crew, being so fast-moving, were often called out to the most precarious missions with barely any notice, and rarely visited any of the main bases more than once every few months.

The crew themselves had been working together for almost three years. Luffy's biggest ambition was to become the strongest man in the world; something that he'd promised Red-Hair Shanks when he was only young (and something that he wouldn't hesitate to tell anybody and everybody, even those unwilling to listen). Being revolutionaries, having bounties would usually be bad, but when you put a whole group of insanely strong people together, letting the world know their names and telling them to roam the seas freely but for the odd order, hell was bound to break loose - a hell that Dragon wanted.

"Kuina~!" Luffy whined, bouncing around like a radioactive, rubber beachball. "Stop worrying about the bird! Let's spar! C'mon, Kuin'!"

Said warrior grimaced, then shot her leader a glare that would have made a lesser man tremble. "How many times, _Monkey_ ," she growled, "How many times do I have to tell you to NEVER CALL ME KUIN'! I AM _FEMALE_!"

As always, Luffy simply _'shishishishi'_ -ed his way out of trouble, and, after hitting her division leader over the head with the hilt of her burnt-orange katana, Kuina stalked off to train on the higher deck, muttering about 'that rubber brained moron never being a gentleman in his life'.

Luffy walked back over to his previous spot, the rounded top of the dragon figurehead, and plopped down onto it, staring at the light blue horizon with unblinking, black eyes. They had to be close now; Law had been tracking his little brothers' crew for weeks in preparation for this, and they had travelled all the way from their previous spot near Fishman Island to a spot near Alabasta - not that any of the rest of the crew knew why, of course. They asked and asked, but, in the end, they were all more than used to their captain's random whims by now.

The scarred teen's eyes softened as he looked over his shoulder at his division. Kuina had been his first nakama. He had met the swordswoman shortly after he'd joined the revolutionaries, and learnt soon enough that she had been there since she was a preteen, and her father had faked her death and sent her off into the world in a raft – all because she was a girl, and apparently too weak to be the swordsmanship champion he'd envisaged. The teen had wandered for a month or so before being found by the C Division and being sent to stay at one of the Paradise bases. She had never left.

Then, there had been Law. After a failed two-person mission, Luffy and Kuina had woken to find that they had been healed by a lone traveller, who had thought that the operations needed by the pair would be 'fun'. They soon found out that his name was Trafalgar Law, and he came from the North Blue, and he had a grudge against Doflamingo, and he had an awful sense of humour. Luffy, deciding that _'Traffy is coool~!_ ', spent nearly a week whining and moaning and griping until, having no other option and nowhere else to go, the man had joined their group. Back then, it hadn't been classed as a division yet.

After that was Bonney. Their meeting had been at Water 7, and had consisted of the greatest eating contest known to man, a drunk Kuina, Marshal D Teach and a tiny little mini-Law running around for a good few weeks. It was safe to say that Luffy wouldn't be going near any cherry pies any time soon, nor would Teach be having any children in the near future. At Water 7, the four had later met Nico Robin and Cyborg Franky, and Enies Lobby was still undergoing major reconstruction (not that there was much to reconstruct).

Next there was Kidd, who had been in the same cell as Luffy in the short period in which he had been in Impel Down. Even though the man had at first been dead-set on ignoring the elastic teen, Kidd eventually gave in and started talking to him; something he would regret throughout the rest of his stay, but be thankful for what he was asked, no, _commanded_ to join the division.

Brook had joined soon after, meeting them while they were on a mission to Thriller Bark. The friendly skeleton had gotten along well with the crew, especially Luffy, and he had had his shadow stolen back from Moriah before escaping the island with the rest of them. He was, apart from Law, perhaps even the most loyal of the crew to this day; Law had sworn his faith to the childish captain after their joint defeat on Dolfamingo a year ago (wild times), and had never looked back.

"Luffy-ya?" came a familiar voice from behind the pirate, and Luffy turned around to see a dubious-looking Law looking between his wrist log-pose and his captain. "Why do we even need to go to the Alabastan waters? We have no reason to be here." When Luffy didn't answer, sticking to smiling absently, the man snorted derisively. " _Taichou_ , you're being a child. I'm your first mate."

"Yeh, but only cause Kuina denied the job."

"Still counts."

Luffy groaned, stretching out more than should've been humanly possible over the figurehead.

"...Fiiiine!" he moaned finally, fiddling with a loose string of the jacket the Dragon made him wear to 'hold up our reputation'. "I made a promise to my two little brothers that, on my birthday the year that they set out, I would visit them to see how they were doing. They're pirates."

"Pirates, eh?" Law asked, interested; he, nor anybody else on the crew, had known that their captain had brothers – nor that Dragon had any more sons. "I would have thought they'd be like you; all 'freedom for all' and 'strongest in the world'. But pirates...?"

"The younger one wants to be the Pirate King," Luffy said happily, staring up at the blue, blue sky, clearly reminiscing. "The older one's a smartass, and he agreed to set sail with him."

Knowing that he wasn't going to get anything else out of his leader, the Surgeon of death sighed and averted his eyes to stare at the horizon, standing beside his commander. He had only met Dragon a handful of times, but sometimes, he swore that Luffy could be as mysterious as his father.

Suddenly, a muffled _'puru-puru-puru-puru'_ came from inside Luffy's jacket. The raven-haired man fished it out, his grin back in place, and brought the lilac-coloured Den-Den Mushi out into the sunlight. Kidd and Robin walked over (Law did _not_ want to know what they had been doing below deck at this time of day, he had a rough idea already), and the three crowded around Luffy as he slid from the figurehead and answered the call.

"Hey, Pops!" Luffy said happily, and most of the crew found themselves rolling their eyes at his casual address of one of the most powerful men in the world. The Den-Den copied their actions.

"Hello, Luffy," came the calm, relaxing baritone from the snail. "I'm just calling to ask how Nico Robin's latest mission went."

"Ah..." Luffy said with a troubled expression. "Um... Not so good..."

"What did you do?"

Law sighed and snatched the phone from the hands of the stuttering Luffy.

"Dragon-ya," he began tersely, and he could almost see Dragon relax now that there was somebody responsible on the line. "The mission went smoothly, except for the fact that one of the target's employees was well-versed in mind control. Robin-ya was, for a small amount of time, controlled by said employee, and made to cause sufficient damage to one of the target's enemies. She is... Regretful."

The truth was that the archeologist was more than just regretful; she was guilty beyond belief. Even now, from that reminder, she was looking down and clenching her fists in a very un-Robinlike way - and Kidd was glaring like looks could kill, his hand on the Oharan's shoulder.

Luffy took that opportunity to yell, pointing out something in the distance, and before Dragon could protest, he had shut off the Den-Den and climbed nimbly onto the railing, staring hard into the distance, as if the noticeably small ship was only a few meters away. Without a word, Law was at the wheel, turning the nimble _Fair Firefly_ around and preparing to chase. The ship had been built personally by Franky; it could out-sail anything.

In the kitchen, Bonney rolled her eyes out of the porthole onto the deck and flipped a slab of meat with a wide grin.

The ship grew closer and closer, figures soon becoming visible on the deck, and two in particular mirrored Luffy's stance on the railing. _His brothers_ , Law's mind supplied. One wore a bright orange cowboy hat, and appeared to be uncaring of the fact that he was missing his shirt ( _how the hell does somebody lose their shirt?_ ). The other wore clothes that were slightly more covering, blue in colour, and a navy-blue top hat with goggles strapped to the front. Cowboy-hat had messy, black hair, while top-hat had wavy blond locks that brushed the nape of his neck.

Luffy gave a keening cry of happiness and reached across between the two ships, and then he was rocketing himself over and into the pair like a Luffy-shaped, rubber bullet. He and his brothers crashed into the deck in a tangle of sun-tanned limbs, and when they hit the ground, the pair returned their older brother's embrace fully. The Revolutionary ruffled the blond's hair and wrapped his arm around cowboy-hat, clambering over them to examine the pair carefully.

"You've grown!" the straw-hatted insurgent beamed.

* * *

"So Ace ate a devil fruit?" Luffy asked excitedly, watching with fascinated eyes as his younger brother's finger danced with flame. The three were sitting side-by-side on the railing, chatting casually as if one of them wasn't on fire and Luffy's arms weren't wrapped around them twelve times. The rest of the division, minus Robin, who'd opted to stay on the _Fair Firefly_ , were dotted around the notably smaller deck getting to know their captain's brothers' crew; Sanji was noodling around Bonney like there was no tomorrow, Nami was punching Franky and Brook for asking to see her panties, Law was trying to pry Chopper off his face, and Kuina and Zoro were shooting each other suspicious looks over the deck while Kid intimidated Usopp near the figurehead.

"Yeah, so did Sabo," Ace replied happily, oblivious to everything else as he caught up with his brother. "I ate the Mera-Mera no Mi, which makes me into fire, and Sabo ate the Rūto-Rūto no Mi, which allows him to locate a route to anything or anyone within a certain distance."

"But..." Luffy trailed off, "I thought you had a navigator? Why would you need one if Sabo can...You know?"

"Think about it this way," Sabo said, "I'm the log-pose, Nami's the navigator, ne?"

"...Yeah, I understand!"

"-L-Luffy! Can't... _Breathe_!"

"Shishishishi! Sorry!"

Kuina rolled her eyes, pulling out of a staring contest with Zoro and walking over.

"Luffy..." she said with the air of a stern mother, "What did I tell you about suffocating hugs? Don't. Do. It."

Luffy, looking cowed, loosened his arms just enough to let his brothers breathe, and Kuina flashed him a thumbs up, laughing.

Abruptly, all three devil fruit users fell asleep.

 _Taichou has some crazy family_ , Kuina found herself thinking vaguely a few seconds later as she dove into the water, linking strong arms around her captain as he sunk through the waves. _Then again_ , she considered _, he's got us too – and I'd say we're not all that much better_.

She grinned, bursting into the open air and taking a long breath just as Zoro surfaced beside her, a brother under each arm. _But damn if we aren't family, too_.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed! Please review!**


	8. Rogue IV

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 8**

 **' _Rogue IV_ '**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Sabo, Luffy, Zoro  
Set: AU in which Sabo was born a Celestial Dragon and can't stand for injustice, and Luffy and Ace aren't the old ones with infamous parents. Ages- Zoro 12, Luffy 10, Ace 13, Sabo 13.**

 **Note- I wrote this while listening to the song 'Renegades' by X Ambassadors. God, I could write a fully-fledged essay on how much that song fits this chapter. I think it's just the first verse that really hits home – the lyrics fit this extraordinarily well. /** ** _shuts up, because nobody actually reads these damn things_** **/**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Sabo was born into a life that should have been everything he needed and everything he ever would. He should have grown up with the same blissful ignorance that his father had, and his father's father had, and his father before that had and so on. He should have been born into paradise, more powerful than angels. A God.

Many things _should_ have happened in his childhood, but things never really quite meant to plan when it came to Jalmack Sabo.

Sabo's earliest memory, startling in its clarity after all these years, is of sour-smelling hands forcing some kind of metal dome over his head. It's suffocating. He can't breathe. _He can't breathe._ The oxygen flow begins a full – agonising - ten seconds later, and Sabo's eyes burn and stream. The person with the clammy, bad-smelling hands shakes Sabo, their voice distant as they berate him. That's also Sabo's first memory of his mother.

The next memory that Sabo has of his childhood that's as clear as that one is from when he was around five, and it had only just occurred to him that the distorted and muffled sounds, high in pitch, from the room with the heavy lock that he's not allowed near might just be _screams_. He's sitting with his back ramrod-straight under the eye of half a dozen security den-den mushis, that same suffocating glass globe around his head, and it hits him like a bullet.

The quiet maid with the laugh that sounds a little like music and a smile like a softer version of the sun. The chains around her ankles, the thin, white scars that curve over her shoulders. She's a slave. All of the people who tend to his every need, cater to his every whim. Slaves. His young mind can barely comprehend that all of these people with washed-out smiles and dull eyes are the same people that scream out in the locked room.

When he asks his father about it, managing to get his attention for a meagre minute, the man gives an unconcerned, nasal-sounding laugh. He doesn't seem to care that people are actually in pain, real pain, in the basement room of his own house. Sabo barely knows what pain feels like but he knows that he doesn't like it and that it feels really bad. Surely, his father can help them? After all, Saint Jalmack can fix anything.

He just doesn't seem all that motivated to.

After that, as he grows, Sabo's memories become clearer. He realises that his home rests on the top of a tower of leaning, straining cards. He sneaks into his father's room one night, just manages to evade the guards, and finds as more corruption than he'd even thought could exist. One day, on a whim, he tries to crawl out of his window. He smashes his oxygen tank. He's nearly found something that he's only read in books – nearly found _freedom_.

But the guards notice him, of course they do. Sabo's mother slaps him hard with one gloved hand, and his head snaps to the side as her hand comes back and backhands his face in the other direction. Her face has become something ugly and full of rage.

Sabo shivers to this day when he thinks about what his _father_ did.

By the time Sabo is eight or nine, he's growing from an infant into a boy. He never gave up. His rebellious acts continued, even as punishments got worse, and by his ninth birthday he's managed to free two slaves. Of course, it's not much. It's never much, and it's never enough, but it's a small victory to Sabo. Soon, Sabo's parents start treating him more like a wayward slave than a pampered son.

He's ten when they brand him, and that's when he breaks down for the first time. It's after another escape attempt (they're so frequent now that Sabo loses count of them), and his memories are scrambled from the moment that he's hauled back inside. Sabo thinks that maybe his brain did this to protect him.

There's pain, he knows that. A lot of pain, all the way across his back, and fire dancing in front of his eyes. Somebody's screaming; it sounds like a young child, or one of the wives. Sabo realises dully that it's him.

When he wakes, he's roughly bandaged, lying on the floor of his room. It's then that Sabo has his first panic attack, clutching his head and biting his lip so hard that it bleeds as hot tears squeeze out of his eyes. His back burns and when the tears finally slow, leaving the child feeling horribly empty, he peels back the bandages gingerly and stares at his back in the mirror.

The Hoof of the Flying Dragon. A brand left on every official slave of the Celestial Dragons.

Sabo's a slave, and now he knows that he has to leave before he ends up bound by this mark forever.

* * *

"Damnitt, _Luffy_! Get back here, it isn't safe!"

The rubber boy laughs gleefully, but still allows ones of his big brothers to pull him back into the shadows by his shirt collar. When the other young fugitive shoots him a stern look, crossing his arms, Luffy pouts – he's already lost this argument.

"What? I just wanted to explore. Look at the cool trees!" Luffy points up to the sky, where the canopy that covers Sabaody Archipelago is just visible. "And there are these awesome looking bubbles, and-"

"Oi! Guys!" Another voice rings from the opposite side of the alley, and soon the speaker is bounding alongside his brothers. Ace is slightly flushed, black hair overgrown and shaggy, but Luffy notes happily that he's grinning. "Troop of marines coming," he says shortly, "I think they updated our bounties again."

While Luffy cheers, their other companion groans and sinks deeper into the shadows. Ace shoots him a teasing look. "C'mon, little bro, you must've expected this. And having high bounties just means that we're more well-known!" Ace's wide grin is almost feral in its excitement.

"Don't call me that."

"Yeah, 'Ro, this is awesome!" Luffy throws his small arms into the air in celebration. The ten-year old is all smiles today, apparently. After a second, though, his face folds into a frown. "We haven't done much, though. It's like the only reason we've got our bounties is-"

"Out of the way!" Before Luffy can finish his sentence, Ace pulls him into the darkness of the alley. A troop of marines storm past.

"They're around here, men!" the man who looks like the captain yells, "The sons of Dragon, Gold Roger and Mihawk!"

Ace rolls his eyes at how they address him and his adoptive brother simply by their father's names. "I still don't get why they're hunting _you_ so much, Mossball. Wasn't your dad a Warlord?"

The son of the greatest swordsman gives a long-suffering sigh, as if he's had to explain this enough times already. "He was until I was born. Then something happened – don't ask me, I don't know what - and he decided to go rogue again. A while after, he attacked a Word Noble, killed some admiral. Now he's up there with your dad on the most wanted list, Luffy."

"Oh yeah!" Luffy giggles up at the twelve-year old. "Hey, Zoro, Ace, after this can we get food? Meat! Meat meat meat!"

As Zoro sighs and says, "Sure," Ace smacks Luffy lightly across the back of the head and says, "Not the time!" Their adoptive younger brother just laughs.

Suddenly, the shouting outside of their alley rises. Gunshots scream through the air. Some poor sod must have been mistaken as one of them. A lance of anger shoots through Zoro, and he meets Ace's eyes, the two older brothers exchanging silent words. _How did this all go so wrong?_

A flurry of memories hit the green-haired boy, and he tightens his grip on Luffy's arm.

…

 _Zoro is young – how young, he can't recall – and strong arms paired with a familiar smell leave him in the cold. His father's voice fades into the wind surrounding Grey Terminal and, in the night, somebody steals Zoro's thin blanket and the few coins in his pocket. He's four at most. He's alone. He's impossibly scared._

 _Zoro's five, and he meets Ace. The older boy is cold and menacing, something dark deep inside him, but he's strong and he can fight so Zoro sticks with him. Every night is a battle against the harsh cold and every day is filled with disease and growing hunger and the ash and dust of the Terminal, but Zoro's getting by. One of his only comforts is that someday, he'll be able to punch his dad, hard. Or stab him. Hell, just yelling at him would be satisfying at the moment._

 _The new kid is seven, and he's finally managed to chase Ace all the way to Grey Terminal. Zoro's only eight, and he doesn't have his brothers yet, and something ugly is still alive inside him. He's had less friends then he can count on one hand in his life – only Kuina, who was a rival who only stayed at Grey Terminal for a few months, and Ace, who's engaged in more of a business arrangement with him than anything. He waits for the day when he can get out of this godforsaken place._

 _Luffy is still seven and it's the day after Zoro's ninth birthday. Things have changed, even if it's only been a few months since he met Luffy – abruptly, everything seems brighter. The beast in Zoro's belly is calmer, close to dormant, and Ace is pulling out a bottle of sake and three cups with a bright grin on his face that Zoro'd never thought he was capable of. And Zoro has brothers. He's suddenly so much less alone, and he relishes in it._

 _It's midwinter, the day before Christmas, and the marines have found them. A part of Zoro always knew that they'd be coming for him eventually – but he's shocked to find that he's not the only one with a condemning father. Luffy's dad, not that the kid seems to care, is the leader of the Revolutionary Army, and Ace's is the most wanted of them all – Gold Roger, late pirate king. It's a dramatic twist of fate that they even met, let alone became sworn brothers._

 _Ace turns eleven today. As the brothers steal away from Dawn Island in a tiny raft, watching their home as smoke colours the sky, Zoro's eyes burn at the injustice of it all. As he silently lets Luffy cling to him, rubbing salve over the harsh burns on Ace's back, he can't help but wish that, even if things stayed the same for him, Ace and Luffy didn't have to pay in pain for their fathers' crimes._ He's _not a good person, but_ they _certainly don't deserve this._

 _Luffy's turning eight, and they're hopping ships from island to island. The first half of the Grand Line is cruel and the pirates ruthless, but Zoro trains hard every night and Ace works to control his new devil fruit every day. Luffy still can't throw a punch to save his life but he's got a half-decent pipe and once, when things get hairy with a few bounty hunters and Ace is close to being taken, a strange force comes out of their youngest and suddenly they're surrounded by unconscious bodies. Who knows? Maybe the kid can be useful, after all._

 _Zoro's tenth rolls around, and they celebrate his birthday and their anniversary of becoming brothers in a filthy alleyway on some shady island. Ace is hurt (_ as always, the reckless moron _, Zoro thinks fondly) and they spend the night huddled together under the stars, Luffy attached to the fire-user's hip. Ace has changed a lot, Zoro realises. He's close to what some could even call doting when it comes to Luffy._

 _They sprint across a slave ship, broken chains slipping from their ankles and wrists, and dive into the ocean - it takes all of Zoro's strength to keep his brothers' heads above the water and get them to an island. He swims for hours, legs burning, but he doesn't give up. His brothers are D's. He's the son of Mihawk. He doesn't give in this easily._

 _It's near dawn and they finally reach sweet, sweet land. Zoro hauls the two dark-haired boys onto the rough sand, collapsing as his small limbs shake. Shells and shards of glass scrape their legs as the sun starts to rise, and Luffy grins impossibly widely and presses their bloody knees together. "We're blood brothers!" he beams, and Zoro pretends his doesn't notice the suspicious brightness in Ace's grey eyes. His own grey eyes, identical to his older brother's even if they aren't related, blur slightly too in the morning light._

 _Things speed up. Luffy is nine, and a marine commodore is sinking something hot and sharp between Zoro's shoulder blades. Zoro is eleven and Ace is, for the first time, allowing himself to break down; and Zoro is there, silent, hands on his shoulders and forehead against his as Luffy sleeps on. Ace is thirteen and Luffy's punch is finally starting to go straight. Zoro is twelve and his brothers forget his birthday, but not a single part of him blames them. Days flow together, as do Zoro's memories of home, but every night he has Ace's warmth and Luffy's presence and they have his and that's enough._

 _It's near Ace's fourteenth, and they arrive in Sabaody. They stick to rooftops and alleys, and shadows in the groves where nobody will see them, and Zoro can't help but notice that a new wanted poster has popped up for a boy of around their age. It's night time, and they huddle in an alcove. Zoro pulls out a copy that he hid in his small pack and inspects it. 'Sabo' the name simply reads, '20,000,000, only alive'. The blond in the picture is scowling, blue eyes flashing, and something about him reminds Zoro distinctly of Ace, somehow._

 _It's the morning, and they've been spotted._

…

"Shit!" Ace's voice pulls Zoro out of his own mind and he's yanked out into the startling sunlight, light flooding into his eyes. A flood of marines pound up the alley behind them, and Zoro barely has time to secure his swords at his side before he's running, feet pounding on the grass. Luffy's in his familiar place between his older brothers, still grinning his roughish grin, and Ace is cursing up a storm.

"Hey, Ace, look!" Luffy reaches out further than any normal human should have the capability to do and snags a bounty poster off a nearby wall. "Your new bounty is…" Going red slightly with frustration even as he carries on running, Luffy offers the poster to Zoro, struggling to read it. The kid never did learn properly.

"Sixty mil'. Not bad," Zoro smirks, as Ace gives a laugh of victory before reaching out to pull Luffy along with them – the rubber boy is falling behind again. Behind them, the marines seem almost offended that their targets are celebrating and laughing as they run for their lives, and they speed up, battle cries growing louder.

Suddenly, another troop rushes out in front of them. The trio stop in their tracks. Zoro growls, slipping easily into place at Luffy's back as Ace takes a step in front of his two younger brothers.

The two approaching troops thunder towards them from either side and Ace's eyes dart as he pulls himself further in front of Luffy. Zoro's slightly shaggy green hair, in need of a good cut, hangs into his eyes, and he unsheathes his two swords. He'd prefer to use three if he wanted to really fight comfortably, but he has to make due with only two for now – his third was destroyed a few weeks ago, to his despair. At least Wado is still okay.

Luffy laughs in a manner that, to somebody who knows him, is distinctly threatening. Sinking into a comfortable stance to mirror Ace's, his near-black eyes are shadowed by his straw hat, and his grin is wide and wild. He's about as intimidating as a ten year old can be.

Ace's fist roars into flames, and then the fight starts.

After everything – Goa Kingdom, the first few weeks in the East Blue, Paradise – the trio fight like a finely oiled machine. Luffy swipes a long arm through the crowd, stretching and stretching and smashing into them like bowling pins; and as two marines go in for Luffy and Ace respectively, Zoro's there, sweeping their swords out of their hands with his own and sending the men crashing to the floor as he slams his leg into theirs in a roundhouse kick. Ace turns the world into a raging fire, and as Zoro sends a low slash at the legs of a few oncoming marines, the older is lunging over his head and sending a wave of fire at those targeting the swordsman's back.

Luffy aims another strong blow at the hoard and as he ricochets his arm around, Zoro ducks and Ace jumps in unison. Zoro senses the blade coming before it hits and he spins to clash his own against it, just as his older brother sprints past him to torch the captain who's flying at Luffy. The kid's still smiling, even as blood pours out of a wound on his temple, and he and Ace fight back-to-back for a minute or so before their oldest yells, "Time to wrap it up!"

Zoro wonders what's up as he hurries to finish his fight and push through the hoard to his brothers, before the sound of more marines storming through the nearby streets hits his ears too. Luffy gives one more still-wonky punch (really, the youngest is currently more brute strength and adrenaline than skill, but he's getting there) before darting over to Zoro with a grin and scrambling onto his shoulders.

"Oi, Luffy! What the he-"

The rest of Zoro's words are cut off as Luffy laughs mischievously and ticks out his tongue, tapping one heel on Zoro's chest. "You keep going on about getting stronger, ne? So carry me." He sticks out his mouth into a comical pout, whistling loudly. "It's not like I hurt my foot in the fight."

Zoro snorts derisively at the black-haired boy's inability to lie, reaching up to smack Luffy lightly on the arm before he secures his hands around the small boy's ankles. He notes the blood that soaks the left one and holds it lightly, subtly applying pressure. Luffy doesn't need any more scars – he has so many already, regardless of how hard it is to scar a rubber boy.

Ace ducks around them, holding off the few marines that are still up and kicking, and shoots Luffy a look of poorly-masked concern before yelling, "Let's move!"

* * *

Sabo's thirteen, nearly fourteen now, and life in the real world as a fugitive is far, far from what he expected.

No. It's ten times better.

He hasn't worn his stuffy oxygen globe in over three years. His space suit-like clothing, made to look rich and sophisticated and utterly failing in that aspect (not that anybody would tell the Celestial Dragons that), is gone – he wears a ratty old top hat and a blue tailcoat now, complete with shorts, boots and a torn t-shirt. For the first year or so, his immune system was impossibly weak from how little dirt he'd come into contact with as a kid, but now things are far better; or, at least, Sabo isn't keeling over from various illnesses every five seconds.

Life has never been better for Sabo. Sure, his brand still burns at the memory of his parents and he's still far from being free from their searching, but he's _free_. He wants to grow to become a revolutionary. He wants to sail the world. He goes to sleep every night with aching limbs and an aching stomach but he's more alive now than he's ever been – and he relishes the feeling of the wind through his hair and burning in his eyes and warmth on his skin. Someday he'll go back to his parents – go back and free the slaves that they keep in that locked room – but for now, he runs.

Grinning, he tucks himself further into the shade of the rooftop as another hoard rumbles past bellow. Apparently he is not the only fugitive in the Archipelago today. He's most certainly not the most wanted. As the sound of a fight breaks out a few streets over, the teen cocks his head slightly – soon, curiosity gets the better of him, and he slips down a drainpipe to the slightly grimy pavement.

Nobody gives him a second glance as he makes his way surreptitiously across the street, soon re-entering the reassuring confinement of the shade. It's probably because he's only had a bounty for a few months; that, or the price on his head and the occasional mentions of his name in the papers aren't anything that could draw people's attention.

Sabo jogs down the alleyway and as he emerges from the other side, his eyes lock on to the commotion a short way down the street. A hoard of white-uniformed marines, two or three troops at the least by the looks of them, are converging on a handful of small figures. More marines lie on the ground unconscious, and as still more topple like bowling pins, Sabo catches a few glimpses of the opposing figures.

The former noble can see two of them clearly, a kid with a straw hat and a young teen with a shock of green hair. The other, standing out from the marines in his orange shirt and with his scruffy, black hair, is at Straw Hat's back, and- _is that fire that's pouring from his punches_?! He squints even harder – his eyesight has never been much to be desired, and now that a kid who looks no older than himself is fighting with literal tongues of fire, he's fascinated. Green Hair ducks and weaves around Straw Hat, and it's obvious that they've been fighting together for a very long time to be able to predict the other's moves so well.

Sabo hisses between his teeth as a marine's wayward sword slashes down into Straw Hat's foot, damn near cleaving it in half. To his credit, the kid doesn't cry out; on the contrary, he bites his lip and smacks the offending officer into a wall, sending up a plume of dust. He carries on fighting as if getting your foot nearly cleaved off is an everyday occurrence (maybe for him, it is), and his two companions don't notice his small falter.

Suddenly, the fire-wielding one yells something Sabo can't make out, and they all abruptly pick up their pace. Sabo realises with a jolt that he's been so caught up in watching the fight that he's unconsciously stumbled into the light of the sun, and he steps back quickly, falling out of sight once again. He watches as the smallest of the trio, Straw Hat, climbs Green Hair and sits comfortably on his shoulders, laughing as his friend grumbles.

And then the trio are trooping towards Sabo, the fire-user protecting the other two as they race down the street and are assaulted on all sides. They turn a corner, Sabo jogging and then sprinting to keep up with the ragtag trio, and when he slips closer to run alongside them, it takes them a second to notice him.

When they do, the black-haired arsonist is the first to react. "Who the hell are you?!" he asks crudely, but he makes no move to attack. His grey eyes flash with something dangerous.

Sabo goes to reply, but Green Hair beats him to it. "He's some wanted kid, twenty million. Name's Sabo." His voice is surprisingly gruff for his age because, up close, Sabo can tell that he must barely be over twelve or so - if that. "I doubt a fugitive would attack fellow criminals." The last part is said to Ace, but Sabo can tell that it's something between a question and a threat, and it's partially aimed at him, too.

"You're right there." The blond tries to keep his tone as light as he can. "I know a good place to hide out. C'mon!"

He veers down a sidestreet and can't hide his mild surprise when the three actually follow him. Slowly, as they gain speed and Sabo leads them off in a confusing trail through the alleyways in hopes of losing their pursuers, the yells of the marines fade behind them. Still, Sabo carries on running, and none of his new companions complain.

Finally, when he deems them far enough away, Sabo yanks Green and the fire-user into a small alcove – an abandoned corner shop, with the entrance door at the bottom of a handful of stairs, shady and hidden. Sabo tries the door, and thanks every entity he can think of when the lock gives after a few hard twists. They pile inside, Sabo entering last and shutting the door behind him, and the trio land in a pile as they gasp for breath.

Sabo has the sense to wait until he's caught his breath back and then push himself up off the table he's slumped against, glancing around. The shop has evidently been in disrepair for years now, and dust hangs on the air like a ghost. Snatches of sunlight stretch through a few high windows, lighting up trails of musty air. The various tables dotted around are covered with broken and abandoned knickknacks. Unlit lanterns hover low over their heads.

"Whoah…" Straw Hat stands up, completely disregarding his injured foot, and Sabo swears he can see honest-to-Oda stars in his eyes. "Shishishishi! Ace, Zoro, look! _Sugeee_!" His laugh and his smile are infectious, and Sabo suddenly realises that he's smiling too.

The other black-haired one, either 'Ace' or 'Zoro' apparently, growls and tugs Straw Hat back down. "Damnitt, Lu, you got yourself hurt. _Again_. How many times do we have to have this talk?!"

'Lu' pouts. "Sorry, Ace." He looks oddly cowed.

As if just remembering that he's there, the three kids all direct their stares to Sabo. "Erm, hi," the former World Noble says awkwardly.

"'Hi'?" The man Sabo now knows is Ace looks unimpressed, but it shocks the blond when Green Hair – Zoro – smacks the man lightly on the shoulder. They meet eyes for a second, grey to distinctive grey, before Ace sighs. Gritting his teeth, he forces himself to bow, and his companions follow silently.

"Thank you for helping us!" the young arsonist says stiffly, echoed a second later by Zoro and 'Lu'.

Sabo fights to keep from flushing. "It's fine!" He twitches, unpleasant memories threatening to surface. "Look – please don't bow…!" the thirteen-year old says quickly. All three look up in unison, confused, but they stop bowing after a second – much to Sabo's relief.

"Touchy," Ace mutters.

Ignoring the comment, Sabo steps forwards. His booted feet kick up dust, toes covered in the stuff, and warmth still spreads inside him at the sight of something that natural, that _real_ , on him. He stretches out one hand to Zoro.

"I'm Sabo," he greets them, smiling as welcomingly as he can. He and the green-haired boy meet eyes.

"I know," Zoro replies, taking his hand.

* * *

When Sabo patches up Luffy – _little does he know that this is the first of many times in which he'll have to do it_ – he earns himself a short, bone-crushing hug from the kid and a smile that looks sort of like it could make flowers grow. Luffy, Ace and Zoro, Sabo learns, are three brothers that left their home town in the East Blue just under three years ago. They seem reluctant to tell him much about why exactly they left (in fact, they're reluctant to tell him anything at all), and he's not sure he even wants to know. They all have shadows in their eyes.

But that night, the four search the rickety old store for blankets and lamps and anything to keep out the chill, and then huddle together in a cocoon of their meagre blankets. Ace doesn't exactly seem keen on getting all that close and cuddly with a stranger, but he does it anyway, because damn if it isn't freezing. As the four boys lie close together for warmth, Luffy blabs away about seemingly meaningless babble; but Sabo learns a lot.

Ace's father's some kind of king, and Zoro's left him when he was small. Their home island was apparently destroyed (the utterly heartbroken look on Luffy's face as he says this looks so _goddamn_ out of place and Sabo barely knows him) by an admiral. They exchanged Sake cups to become brothers. Ace ate a devil fruit. Luffy's made of rubber. Zoro is Zoro. Luffy likes meat.

It's not substantial information, but it's enough to send Sabo's mind whirling long after Luffy falls asleep on his shoulder ( _god, he's so_ _ **trusting**_ ) and Ace and Zoro's breathing evens out. Is there a chance, even just one chance, that the three brothers will accept him if they find out who he is?

No. Sabo knows this immediately.

Kneading his forehead, Sabo rolls over and stares at the dark wall. They'll probably leave tomorrow, anyway, so he's worrying for nothing.

Either way, sleep doesn't come easily for Sabo that night. His dreams are a blur of dragons and softly-laughing maids and scars and screams and fire.

* * *

A few days later, Sabo's surprised to find that his new companions haven't moved on yet. Every day, they venture out carefully – or, at least, Ace and Zoro do. Luffy's foot is showing worrying signs of infection, and he spends most of his time situated on Ace or Zoro, occasionally hopping over to Sabo. He honestly can't bring himself to feel too annoyed about it; even Ace and Sabo seem to be warming up to him slightly. _Small victories_.

Ace, Sabo, Zoro and Luffy decide to set up camp in the abandoned store (Sabo finds an old sign that reads 'Williamson's', so Luffy quickly dubs the place 'Amson', which soon gets distorted into 'Amazon'. The name, strangely, sticks). The four boys spend the first few days rifling through the place, tearing up sheets and opening windows to let more light in. Above the shop itself is a small apartment complex, everything still covered in dust, and there they find more blankets and clothes.

Sabo learns still more about the trio. Ace's bounty recently hit sixty million, something the former World Noble marvels at, while Luffy's rose to thirty million and Zoro's stayed firmly at forty-two million. They're used to criminality, Sabo can tell, and while Zoro seems relatively unfazed by the rise in bounty, Ace and Luffy see it as a cause for celebration.

As they grow more comfortable around him, the trio of outlaws ask plenty of questions about Sabo, too. He tells them plainly that he's an orphan and, on the second night when Ace catches sight of Sabo's brand, he shoots him a silver gaze filled with something between shock and sympathy. That night, Sabo knows that Ace must've told his brothers something because Luffy clings to him a little tighter and Zoro offers him his share of the bread Ace stole for them.

Time speeds up. Amazon becomes less like a temporary recuperation place and more like a home, surprisingly enough. After explaining the situation quickly to Sabo, the three younger of the youths wake their oldest on January the first with a few slices of Luffy's homemade cake (Ace might have to pass on actually _eating_ the stuff, but he appreciates the gesture all the same) and some fried fish swiped from a street vendor a few blocks away. Ace has never thought that his birth was all that celebration-worthy – his existence isn't exactly a good thing – but he finds himself feeling pretty damn content when the trio settle down on the roof that night, lying back to look at the sky.

Stars peak through the gaps in the leaves, and Luffy suddenly props himself up and stares at Sabo, hard. Squirming slightly under the heavy stare, Sabo raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, Luffy?"

"Ne, Sabo, be our brother!"

Sabo chokes on air. Ace stares and _stares_ at Luffy, utterly incredulous. Even Zoro looks like he's about to fall off the roof.

" _Ba_ ka!" Ace's hand comes up to whap Luffy across the back of the head.

"What?!" The rubber boy clutches his head. "He could be, though! Sabo's nice!"

"You don't just go around asking random kids to be our brothers! Does our brothership mean that little to you?!"

At Ace's outraged tone, a hope that Sabo hadn't noticed was growing within him shrivels and dies. Of course they don't want him. He was stupid to even begin to think that they would. He's the son of a Celestial Dragon, born to the scum that hate the three brothers, even if they don't know it yet. He was a fool to begin to hope for anything close to friendship.

"Well…" At Zoro's contemplative tone, Sabo looks up in surprise. "Ace, it's not like he's been anything but good to us. I get that our being brothers means a lot to you – it means a hell of a lot to me and Luffy, too – but do you really want to throw away the chance of having another one of us? Four pairs of eyes are better than three, after all."

"But… But…!" Ace's face grows steadily redder, and something dark crosses his expression. After a second, he sighs. "Look…Sabo. I ain't got anything against you. You've helped us a lot. _Arigatō_. But do you seriously want to sign yourself up for a life of running, just 'cause you're with the sons of three of the most wanted criminals in history?"

Sabo stares at Ace, hard, and the silence stretches uncomfortably before the blond sighs and plops back down onto the concrete. He closes his eyes, and then _talks_.

He tells the three brothers about growing up as the oldest son of a family of Celestial Dragons, of World Nobles. He tells them about slaves, and suffocating glass globes, and at some point they all shift closer. His voice shakes, but he doesn't stop. He tells them of a childhood spent overseeing tiny, seemingly meaningless acts of rebellion, of trying desperately to help those trapped under his family's thumb, of his father's wrath that still makes him shake to the core to this day.

He tells them about the brand, and shaking on the floor of his bedroom and sobbing over the lifeless body of the kind maid who'd shown him more care than his parents ever would. He speaks of smashing his oxygen purification globe and glass falling into his eyes, of sprinting through the dark and running and running and running until he aches all over and struggles to draw breath. His voice trembles as he talks of learning freedom and living just ahead of the law, and of panic attacks and nightmares and terror like none he's ever felt before.

"Don't you see?" Sabo's voice is still small, but grows in volume as he goes on. "I've spent three years running from admirals and Celestial Dragons. And I'm not exactly proud of my parentage, either. But if you want to let me be your brother – and I'm not asking you to, because that's not my choice – then I'll do all I can to carry on surviving."

As if suddenly realising just how much he's said, Sabo bows his head. He's ready for the rejection that's bound to come. "I'm sorry for going on and on. I get it if you don't-"

The blond, head low, is cut off by Ace. "We do." Jalmack Sabo raises his head in shock, meeting the youth's eyes, and the fourteen-year old grins. "Welcome to the family, Sabo."

( _Sabo can't help the tears that well up in his eyes like that, and Ace laughs as Luffy wraps him in his arms multiple times and Zoro smirks fondly.)_

* * *

Three days later, when Ace manages to steal some, the four share cups of Sake. This ritual seems sentimental to Zoro, Ace and Luffy, and when Sabo asks why, it's their turn to talk. All vestiges of mistrust gone, the three kids from Goa talk in turns of growing up as the sons of monsters, and of Sake cups and dreams and living by the sea. Akainu is the only admiral who Sabo's never seen with his own eyes, and he's glad that he hasn't encountered the man by Zoro's lowly-spoken description of the man and his power. It's clear that all three hate him with everything they have.

It's a welcome break from the sombre atmosphere when Sabo learns who Luffy's father is. He nearly falls out of his chair, and then he's back up again, telling Luffy eagerly about how he hopes that he can find the revolutionary army someday and go back to Mariejois, free the slaves he grew up with. Luffy screams his own dream back without prompting; (' _I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!_ ' he screeches, and now Sabo's ears are ringing).

Maybe that's the best part of freedom, Sabo muses. Dreams don't seem so impossible.

Loud grunts and the sounds of harsh blows fall from the room, ringing down the corridor. The apartment complex itself is abandoned (bar the four occupants in the main room). If anybody were to look in, they would be greeted with the sight of Luffy and Ace sitting on the floor, the former gnawing on a slice of meat, as they watch their two sparring brothers in the centre of the room. They have an air about them as they observe that suggests that they've seen this fight many times before.

Sabo lunges in, swipes his pipe, but Zoro blocks it with one sword and then sweeps his other forward. Sabo dances out of the way, and in a second he's shooting in towards Zoro's unguarded side – _damn, too slow_ , Zoro forces him off with a hidden grin under his bandana. Dodging another lightning-fast swipe from his adoptive brother, Sabo flips backwards and lands in a crouch; suddenly he's rolling to the side, Wado slicing through the air centimetres from his cheek

"Nice acrobatics," Zoro jibes, though he's breathing heavily.

"Getting tired?" Sabo retorts, and then he's up again and Zoro's abruptly on the defensive.

As they continue to exchange blows, Sabo slowly starting to take the lead, Ace turns to Luffy on the side. "I'm still betting on Zoro. You know I don't go back on my bets." Either way, he still sounds resigned.

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughs. He raises his voice. "SABO! WIN, OKAY?!"

"Gotcha, Luffy," Sabo laughs, before yelping as two swords cross in an arch towards his neck and scrambling out of the way. He curses inwardly. That one second of distraction could have cost him the whole fight.

Ultimately, Sabo wins. Pipe held an inch over Zoro's eyes, he stands still over him for a second before grinning and offering a hand to help his friend up. Zoro considers declining it (he has honor, after all), but then takes it on a whim and lets the blond pull him to his feet, fighting back a grin himself.

"Damn _iiit_ ," Ace whines, "Sabo! You just lost me eighty belli!"

Sabo sticks his tongue out in an almost childish manner, laughing. "Blame yourself for making the bet," he says manner-of-factly, slipping out of his sweat-drenched shirt as he stifles a yawn.

Zoro tries to feign nonchalance, pretending that he isn't trying to peak over his shoulder curiously at the bold brand on the blonde's back, but Ace and Luffy stare unabashedly. The former doesn't seem to notice how obvious he's being, while the latter doesn't seem to care.

Sabo starts to walk across the room to scrub his soiled shirt, but then realises with a jolt that he's being stared intently at. Raising an eyebrow and turning around, it takes the former Celestial Dragon a second to realise what's drawn all three's attention. When he does, his fair face reddens and he turns to face them quickly, hiding the brand from view.

"Ah, sorry, I'd forgotten about that!" Sabo stumbles over his words awkwardly.

"That's where…?" Ace sounds horrified.

A tense silence. Sabo dips his head. "Yeah. But it doesn't hurt so much anymore, anyway, so I'm-"

The young teen swallows.

"I'm fine."

Luffy shoots him an utterly dubious look, small forehead creasing, and opens his mouth to say something; Zoro puts a hand on the younger's shoulder shaking his head slightly. _If Sabo wants to talk, he'll talk_ , the young swordsman says without words.

That night, when Ace takes Sabo's watch for him on the roof of Amazon and Zoro offers him extra blanket (it's still so damn cold) and silent warmth of his back against his as they settle down, Sabo's a second from declining when he sees the look in their eyes. With a jolt, he realises that they _care_.

Maybe they saw through his lie earlier. Saw that he's not quite as fine as he'd like to be. Either way, all three of the brothers seem to sense that something's wrong, and Sabo falls asleep to the first night in a long time that's dreamless. He sleeps for a long time and they let him sleep in the next morning, and all he can hope is that his smile is enough to convince them of how grateful he really is.

He thinks that it is.

* * *

On Sabo's fifteenth, two years before he's due to fulfil his promise and cast out to the open ocean, the brothers decide that an excursion is in order. They're all free spirits, Sabo by nature and Ace, Luffy and Zoro by nurture. Staying at the Amazon for so long is safe, but for what it has in security it lacks in adventure, so they decide to hitch a ride on a fishing boat a little further back across the Grand Line before coming back.

Simple, right?

Apparently not when you have two idiot little brothers who decide that they're antsy and they're hungry respectively ( _three guesses on which one's which_ , Sabo jokes to Ace later). Stowaways on Grand Line fishing boats aren't typically meant to casually wander into the galley in search of a fight and some food, but that's what they do, and Ace looks like he's about to scream.

As they dive into the ocean, Zoro taking Ace and Sabo taking Luffy, the blond chortles at how red Ace was when they ran through the ship, face looking warmer than his fire on a bad day. Zoro snickers along, heaving Ace onto his shoulder to keep his dark head above the water, even though he knows that he and Luffy are due for a lecture from the two oldest in the very near future.

They paddle for a few minutes, an island slowly starting to grow on the horizon, before they see the monster of a ship.

Sabo scans it, even as Zoro curses loudly. Marine - some model of warship, or at least something close. The figurehead's a dog with a bone in its mouth. The boy can see something printed on the sails, but it's too far away to read. Dog figurehead. Something vague comes to Sabo's mind. Is that-

"Crap," Zoro growls, seawater flooding into his mouth, "That's Garp!"

"Wait, Luffy and Ace's-"

"Yep!"

Sabo and Zoro exchange looks, then look back at the approaching monster of a ship, then look back at each other.

"Swim or scream?"

"Both?" Zoro tries.

"I think that's our best option right now."

* * *

So, maybe their first excursion didn't go so well, but hey – Luffy and Ace knew that their Grandfather was alive, and while only one was outwardly happy, it was obvious that both were relieved that he was still up and kicking. Or, well, punching. And, really, they were more terrified than relieved, but were relieved nonetheless.

* * *

Sabo and Ace leave together (mostly because they can only risk nicking one boat), and their departure is a quiet one – and a tearful one, too, because now Ace's shirt is covered in tears and snot and other unspeakable things and Luffy's on the floor with a bump like an egg on his head.

"Baby! Men don't cry!" Ace yells at him. He's still hiding a smile, though, not that he'd ever admit it.

Sabo can sense this turning into a squabble already, and he and his other younger brother exchange slightly exasperated looks.

"Ace is just a meanie! I'm crying cause I'll miss you, you asshole!"

"Who're you calling an asshole?!"

"You, asshole!"

"Why, you-"

"Oi, oi, cut it out you two," Sabo groans. _It's good to know that some things never change_. After being latched onto by Luffy and given the same treatment (this time fully returned, bar the sobbing), Sabo jumped down to join Ace on their tiny dinghy. Casting off, waving furiously to the tiny dots of Luffy and Zoro on the shoreline until they're out of sight, Sabo considers how far they've come with a grin.

Zoro's matured. He's far calmer after three years, more sedates, and he laughs more – but he's all but terrifying when he fights now, even if he's just sixteen. The rough and soiled clothes of grey terminal that hung off him are gone – he wears a white, long-sleeved shirt and pants that go down to his ankles.

Luffy's changed, too. Unlike Zoro – who's bulked up in muscle and shot up in height – he's only gotten a little taller, and he's built like a twig, having lost the baby fat in his cheeks. He wears mostly Ace's old t-shirts (the seventeen-year old seems to have permanently rejected wearing anything but an open, yellow overshirt) and shorts, and he's actually not half bad at aiming his damn punches now. Sabo's two younger brothers have matured mentally, too, now. They talk more like equals than the scolding older brother and the cheeky little brother, sometimes.

Sabo turns to his single older brother, a thrum of excitement pulsing through him as they exchange grins. He'll miss this – but he might as well enjoy the little time he has with Ace left, before they set off on their own journeys.

* * *

It takes nearly four months to get Ace to finally give in and join the crew, and by that time, Thatch is utterly convinced that the son of the pirate king, even if he can be a little shit who tries to kill Oyaji sometimes, is not half as bad the World Government have painted him as for the last seven years. For one, he's far younger than anything Thatch had expected. In his wanted poster, he looks well over twenty, but in person he looks more like he's in his mid to late teens.

Most of the crew know by now that half of the crap Ace allegedly did while on the run from the government is just that – _crap_. Apparently, bloodlines matter more than the truth to the government (not that Thatch hasn't known this for a long time), and they matter a hell of a lot more than the innocence of a child, too. Thatch remembers when Ace told them casually how he was eleven when he got his first bounty, and how few months later, he hit the Grand Line.

Marco was positively fuming, but said nothing and kept his face blank. Thatch knows him better than most, though, so he can see the tightening of his jaw and the narrowing of his eyes. The first mate's never been one to stand for injustice, and this is no exception.

As Ace grows closer to the crew, his frosty and mistrustful shell melting tediously slowly, he mentions his brothers offhandedly once in a while. It's common knowledge that the infamous four aren't actually blood related (if there were four sons of Roger, Thatch doesn't doubt that the government would just about implode), but the Whitebeard Pirates know better than anybody that family doesn't depend on blood.

Still, the commander of the fourth division can't help but wonder. Sabo, the one of the four without some infamous father, hasn't been heard from much in months. Dragon's son (Lucky? Something like that) and Mihawk's kid (green hair is all Thatch remembers of him) have steadily rising bounties and occasionally make the news, but since word got out to the government that Ace is one of the Whitebeard Pirates now, they've been focussing mostly on him.

One day, curiosity gets the better of the redhead. He and Ace are on watch, passing a bottle of something golden and warming between them before the chilly morning sky, and Thatch asks, "Whatever did happen to your brothers, anyway? What did the marines start calling 'em? 'Rogue, IV'?"

To Thatch's mild surprise, Ace laughs, leaning back and slipping his hands behind his head. Nostalgia fills his eyes. "Lu' and Zoro are still back at the Amazon. And Sabo left at the same time as me - when we turned seventeen - to go find the Revs and, y'know, change the world." His young face softens. "Sabo's always wanted to change the world."

"'Amazon'?" Thatch takes a swig, settles back beside his friend for a good story. Honestly, he's surprised that Ace is giving away anything at all, but he's not complaining.

"Me, Luffy and Zoro grew up on an island in the East Blue called Dawn until near my eleventh birthday, when Akainu found us, and-" Ace makes a vague gesture. "We left. Spent a couple of months in East Blue, kind of lost, I guess. We got to the Grand Line before Luffy turned eight a few months later, and we were on the run for a few years until we happened to reach Sabaody when I was, what, thirteen? Fourteen?"

"What about Sabo?" Thatch is engrossed, even as he keeps half an eye on the horizon.

"That's when we met him. He was a runaway, thirteen years old with a slave brand, and Luffy asked him to be our brother only a few days after we met him." Ace chuckles, though it sounds sort of sad. "Me and Zoro damn near ripped his head off, but Sabo fitted in really well. Soon, we settled down in this abandoned shop in the lawless zone, hid away for a long time, trained and trained. We were just scared kids, but it made us feel stronger.

"As for the 'Amazon' thing – the shop used to be called 'Williamsons', and my little brother can barely read, so he got that from 'Amsons'. It, uh, stuck."

Ace abruptly seems to realise how much he's talked, and he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry. It's just been a long time since I've seen the kid – seen any of them – and I miss them. Spending seven years with somebody makes it harder than I thought it would be to leave."

"When are you planning to see them again?" Thatch crosses his legs, thinking. "I mean, Oyaji isn't exactly on bad terms with the Revolutionaries, maybe you and Sabo could-"

"I would, but we have an agreement." Ace abruptly grins, laughing. "All four of us are going to meet up at the beginning of the Grand Line when Luffy and Zoro set off to form a crew. Until then? I can wait."

He says it in such a manner that he might be planning to wait for his wayward brothers in this crow's nest for years, and Thatch digests the new information. He struggles to hold in a grin at his new brother's expression when he catches sight of it. Ace really does have that 'D' grin, and it's infectious.

"Until then, you got us," Thatch corrects.

The next day, Ace gets his tattoo even bigger than Marco's on his back, and beams across at the chef even as the needle pierces his skin. He looks like he could keep that smile for years. Thatch prays inwardly that his new brother can.

* * *

Sabo meets Koala the day after he finally – _finally_ – finds the Revolutionary Army. She seems nice enough at first glance. Formal to the point of mild intimidation. Mistrustful, obviously so. When she and Sabo are sent on their first mission together, her previous partner having recently moved rank, the redhead looks like she's close to complaining but refrains from doing so. Sabo had always thought of the Revolutionary Army as a pretty over-the-top name, but as soon as he sees Koala, he knows; she's a soldier. She follows orders.

A few days later, when the mission goes utterly wrong (he should have expected this, this is the extent of his luck) and he and Koala end up blowing up a marine base and nearly blowing themselves up too, he learns that she's not just a soldier. She's also a pretty damn good friend, and somebody that he wouldn't mind taking a few more missions with. She makes sure that he's relatively unharmed before even thinking to check if she has all of her own limbs, and takes the fall for him without hesitation when it comes to owning up to the flaw in the mission.

Months pass, and after three or four, Sabo's happy to note that he and Koala are still partners. When they skip up the ranks, soon becoming the two youngest of the higher-ups, they do so together. Ever couple of weeks, Sabo makes sure to send a letter over to Luffy and Zoro (it's not like either can read all that well, but it's the thought that counts), and he always checks in on Ace every now and again. Good brother requirements? Check.

Self-care? Veto. The amount of lectures that Sabo gets from Koala every time he does something noble ( _self-sacrificing, idiotic and suicidal_ , Koala calls it) is astronomical. There are occasional instances in which Sabo forgets to eat, too, but luckily his partner doesn't seem to notice that yet. He hopes.

Fulfilment of all three of his goals? Veto. Sabo's found and joined the Revolutionaries, sure, but he has yet to thank the red-haired Yonko and he hasn't yet managed to raid his old home to help the slaves of Jalmack and the other World Nobles. But he'll get there, eventually, once he's further up the ranks.

One out of three isn't too bad, though, especially considering that the one he has done is by far the most important, so Sabo is content for now.

Broken out of his thoughts by a light hand on his shoulder, Sabo looks up. It's the day of one of his sporadic meetings with Dragon, and he and Koala are due to arrive in Baltigo in a few hours. Beneath him, the boat lulls comfortingly and rhythmically on the waves, and the cold wind freshens his face and ruffles his hair from his place against the railing, near the stern.

The offending hand on his shoulder is Koala's, and when she pulls back, it's to shuffle through some papers in her arms. "Some more news on your brother," she says. This is commonplace by now; the Revolution has some of the best sources in the world, and Sabo plans to make use of them as much as he can.

"Thanks, Koala," Sabo grins. Taking the offered papers, he scans them and chuckles. Apparently the Whitebeard Pirates made contact with Red-Haired Shanks a few days ago, and for some reason, the tailing marines came across the burnt-out carcasses of three sea kings. Sabo's not sure he even wants to know.

Either way, Ace most likely managed to spare a moment to do what he and Sabo had vowed to do - thank Akagami. _Always just ahead of me, huh, Ace?_

But, he'll get there eventually. For now, he has a rebellion to take care of.

* * *

It's been nearly a year since Ace and Sabo cast off, and Luffy and Zoro are getting bored. Zoro's due to leave soon – his seventeenth birthday is approaching fast – but honestly, he's not too keen on leaving Luffy here on his own. If they were back at Dawn, there would be no problem, but here? Luffy's a fifteen-year old with seventy million on his head, on one of the most marine-heavy islands in Paradise. And he's a complete and utter idiot, too, with no survival instinct of any kind, so he's as good as dead.

When Zoro consults his younger brother about it, the tiny moron doesn't seem to notice the insults - that, or he just doesn't give two shakes of a gull's wing. He gives his distinctive laugh and slaps the swordsman on the back, in a way that suggests that Zoro's being an idiot (who knows? Maybe he is, according to Luffy Logic).

"I'm strong!"

"Like hell you are!" Okay, Zoro might grudgingly admit that Luffy can easily take out a few idiot marines, but he'd die in a day if he stuck around here.

"I am! Fight me!"

"We've already had our one-hundred fights for the day."

"But before Sabo and Ace left, we used to have one-hundred and fifty!"

"But I'm older."

"That's not an excuse!"

"That's _always_ an excuse."

After glaring hard at his companion for a minute, Luffy whines and flops to the floor. "Stupid Zoro. Why don't we just go back to Dawn?"

"As if we c-"

Zoro pauses. What was the reason that they couldn't go back there again? Nothing comes to mind. And, on second thought, leaving Luffy at Dawn would give him time to get stronger (god, the _things_ living in that damn forest don't bear thinking about) and Zoro could stick around the East Blue for a while, hunt a few bounties, maybe even pick a fight with _that man_ if he ever encounters him.

Did Luffy just come up with a good idea?!

"Luffy," he says in a dry voice, "You might actually be picking up the slack from Sabo as the smart one, y'know?"

Luffy laughs gleefully, tucking into his meat with a radiant grin.

* * *

Zoro turns seventeen on a crisp autumn morning a few months after they return to Dawn, when the rusty sunlight hits Dandan's hut and turns it into a bright, burnt-orange beacon in the trees. His sendoff is quiet – only Luffy comes, because nobody else here really knows Zoro all that well – and before he pitches his tiny raft out onto the open ocean, he and his brother make a promise.

"I'll stay in the East Blue for two years, until you turn seventeen," the young swordsman says. "Then, we meet up again, and I'll see just how strong you've gotten. Who knows? Ace and Sabo would kill me if I let you get beheaded within the first damn week, so maybe I'll join your crew." His steel-coloured eyes narrow, and he meets Luffy's gaze calmly. "But I won't follow a weak captain, you know."

Luffy doesn't have a care in the world – not that he ever has, or ever will. "I'll be strong, Zoro. You'll see!"

The way he says it doesn't sound boastful. No. Luffy says it in a way that makes it seem like a fact.

And Zoro has faith.

* * *

 _Two years later_.

"Thanks, Zoro!"

The Marine Captain Morgan crashes to the ground, sends up a plume of dust, and Luffy's grinning a familiar grin that's shadowed by his hat. Apparently, his crybaby brother really did get stronger. He doesn't act much like a crybaby anymore. No - he acts like a damn pirate captain.

"No problem, S _encho_."

Grand Line and older brothers?

Here they come.

* * *

 **And, longest chapter yet, over! If enough people want it, I'll write a sequel to this – adventures on the Grand Line and Marineford and all that – but only if you're interested. I hope you enjoyed! Please, please review!**


	9. Unafraid

**The Sun and Sea - Chapter 9**

 **'Unafraid'**

 **Main character(s): Ace.  
Set: Marineford.  
** **Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

* * *

It's funny how, whenever the thing you fear most happens, you don't feel afraid. In fact, you're often quite brave. When a person is stripped of everything they believe in, when they don't have anything to lose, they can fight like animals to their last breath and still be unafraid.

There were many reasons why Portgas D. Ace feared death like any common man. He was afraid of losing his identity; being lost in the pages of time and completely forgotten. He was afraid of leaving Luffy behind to fend for himself. He was afraid of leaving his crew, afraid of the devastation his death was bound to cause and how reckless his crew mates would become to avenge him.

And he was afraid of what lingered beyond the gates of death.

But when he threw himself in front of his brother, Fire-Fist Ace was proud to say that he was completely unafraid. Unafraid, because of how natural it felt to be standing in front of his brother once again, protecting him from harm, keeping the thing that was most important to him in the whole world alive.

Unafraid, because the things that we love the most are often, in a way, the things we fear most as well. Or maybe that was just the blood loss getting to him. Maybe he was actually terrified, but he didn't know it.

Content to fall asleep without knowing the answer, Portgas D. Ace, the brother of Mugiwara Luffy, closed his eyes.

Portgas D. Ace died that day, and it was always known that he died completely unafraid of what was to come.

Such was in Fire-Fists's nature.

Such was the Will of D.


	10. Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 10**

 **'** ** _Cross My Heart and Hope to Die_** **'**

 **Main character(s): Ace  
Set: Canon.  
** **Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

* * *

Ace is smirking.

Marco is immediately on guard. He's seen his best friend look more smug (now _that_ brings back some unpleasant memories), but he's still on edge, and pears over his mug at the newspaper in the fire logia's hands. There's excitement dancing in the young man's eyes, and the Phoenix is torn between feeling happy that his nakama is happy and terrified of what created that smile.

"What're you smiling about?" Thatch, hair slightly dishevelled, looks like he's trying to become one with the table. He partied a little too hard last night, no doubt, as is the way of the Whitebeard Pirates.

"I want to make a bet." Ace acts like Thatch never said anything, smiling serenely. "Hey, Marco, can I make a bet with you?"

Marco raises an eyebrow in the perfect image of an uninterested older sibling. "Sure, yoi. What on?"

Ace lifts the newspaper, turns it so Marco can see the wanted poster slotted inside. It's one of many. At a glance, the first division commander knows that it's a pirate that he's never seen before – he's nothing extraordinary. A shock of messy black hair, and a yellow straw hat (a memory teases Marco, but he can't grasp it, and it flits away). A wide grin, larger than life, and skinny, tanned limbs.

"I bet…" Ace checks the poster, humming in thought. "Thirty million! I bet thirty million beli that this kid becomes the next pirate king."

The table stills.

"Ace, you're drunk, yoi."

The youth grins anyway, apparently unaware of the looks he's garnering from his siblings. "Maybe just a little." A pause. "So? Are you taking the bet or not?"

The commander rolls his eyes. "Sure, sure, why not. Though beware – I'll hold ya' to it."

Ace beams, that smirk taken over by a radiant, toothy smile, and gets up. Ripping the wanted poster out of the paper, he rolls it up carefully and puts it in one of the loops of his belt. "I'm gonna go show Oyaji!" Smacking Thatch none-too-lightly on the back of the head as he passes (the chef groans and swipes pathetically at Ace, missing by about a foot) Ace bounces out of the galley.

Marco and Izo exchange looks, and Thatch makes a comment about wanting to bury himself.

* * *

Marco sits gracelessly on the browning grass, flicking a grey-streaked lock of hair out of his eyes. His eyesight has gotten worse over the years, and his body isn't what it used to be, but aside from the greying of his hair, not much has changed about his overall appearance. His limbs don't hold the same muscle as they used to, though – now his arms and legs are spindly and thin, and he hates that he's gotten to the point where he's this damn weak.

"Ace," he greets. Reaching into his pack of meagre belongings, he fingers through until his fingers land on a newspaper.

Pulling it out, the former pirate holds it up, turning it around so that the title page is in view of the grave in front of him. He chuckles, and then that laugh morphs into a full, loud bellow of a laugh. The Phoenix laughs until his ribs hurt, until his eyes are full of tears, and he's not sure after a while what he's even laughing at anymore.

When the torrent of emotions end, he straightens up, wipes the tears from his eyes again. "God, Ace, I might have to start up piracy again just to pay for your goddamn bet, y'know?"

He swears, even in the silence and the pain that has lasted all of these years and the tearing feeling in his chest, that he can hear a laugh.

* * *

 **Please review! Thank you for reading!**


	11. Marco, Polo

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 11**

 **' _Marco, Polo_** **'**

 **Main character(s): Whitebeard Pirates  
Set: Canon, pre-Strawhats  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.  
Warning: IMPLICATIONS OF SEXUAL THEMES, slavery**

 **Note: this one is** ** _really_** **self-indulgent – mostly because it's more Marco!centric than based around any of our four mains. However, Ace and Luffy are still included, so I guess I can stick it here. If there are any problems, I'll repost it separately.**

 **And! This story has hit 3,000 views and thirty reviews, and I'm so happy! Thank you all so much for your support, and as a celebration, I'm working on the sequel to Rogue IV (because apparently a lot of people like it). Stay tuned for that!**

* * *

 _Marco, for as long as he can remember, has been a slave. It's not barbaric to him. It's the way the world works – for there are people who have power, and have something called freedom, and then there's him and he has neither and he's never thought to ask why. After all – he's not the only slave in the world. He's a nameless face, another thin body in a crowd of sallow faces and dark eyes, and nobody here has the time, nor the motivation, to show him any pity._

 _Considering himself lucky has often helped the youth. He's lucky that, out of the three sections of work that his kind are divided into, his young body was deemed unsuitable for manual labour or – god forbid –_ _ **that**_ _kind of work, that left young men and women staring sightlessly at the walls, trails of blood on their legs that weren't scrubbed away quite thoroughly enough. Instead, he was given scribing; Marco's taught from a young age how to write in a dozen different languages, and how to roughly map out towns and islands and something wide and vast that he's told is called 'the sea'._

 _Of course, Marco doesn't always have his name. Until he's free, at least, his name is a number- 042395. It's as ingrained into his brain as it is into his forearm, inked across his young, pallid skin. His existence is one of muted pain, of watching a world without colour as it flows past him, of watching the fate that's sure to befall him happen to thousands around him every day._

 _That is, until he meets 779765._

 _Of course, he's a new one. 779765 insists that Marco calls him 'Thatch', because that was his name before he was taken from his home, and though it takes Marco a while he eventually gets used to the name on his tongue. Until now, a name has been something reserved for the Powerful people, for people with the thing called 'Freedom' who can wake up every morning so look out over the vast body known as the 'Sea'._

 _Thatch is the one that gives Marco his name. They share a cell, now, and there's barely enough room for one – let alone two ten-year olds. In a tangle of cold, thin limbs, Thatch's newly shaved head rests on Marco's shoulder. 'Let's call you Marco, okay?' he says. 'That way, you can always say 'Marco' and I can always answer!'_

 _042395 tries the name out on his tongue. 'Marco…Marco…'_

 _'Polo!' Thatch grins, and it lights up the whole world, and that spark in Marco that was quashed from when he was very, very young flares back to life. 'See! We can always find each other.'_

 _Months pass. Marco writes his new name over and over on sheets of stolen paper, traces the letter 'M' onto the steamy windows of the scribing room, murmurs his own name over and over whenever he feels afraid – and Thatch always replies, is always there. Thatch is in manual labour (he and Marco are around the same age, but he's taller and his muscles are more developed). Whenever Marco can, he steals glances at medical scripts, tries to find ways to ease the pain of manual slavery out of his best friend's limbs. It doesn't do much, of course, but Thatch seems to appreciate it and that's enough._

 _Nights are cold and dark, and when Marco is abruptly moved from his faction of work to the faction he's always been the most scared to join, it's only Thatch murmuring 'I've found you, I've got you' over and over into his ear that stops him from slipping over the edge. It_ _ **hurts**_ _, far worse than the ache of his hand after scripting for days and days, far worse than anything he's ever felt. Thatch promises him that, when they grow up, they'll find home. Somewhere. Someday. 042395 believes him._

 _But of course, they're empty words. When the pair are around fourteen, give or take a few years, the slave industry that they've been under the thumb of for so long – Marco since he was born and Thatch since he was nine – starts to fall into dept. They need to sell more and more just to stay above the poverty line, and one of the sacrificed slaves is Thatch. Suddenly Marco's alone in his cell every night, silent and freezing cold, no voice whispering fairy stories into his ear every night. He says his own name into the dark, hopeful, tears in his eyes, and nobody answers. They can't find each other._

 _Years pass, and the light in Marco's eyes fades. At some point, he's sold too, but he's not naive enough to hope that he'll be reunited with his best friend (hell, they were more like brothers). Days pass in a blur. Something covered in stiff swirls, shaped vaguely like some kind of fruit, is forced into his mouth. He gags and yells out, bitter juice filling his mouth, but he's forced to swallow and something heavy clamps down on his ankle. Every movement, now that he has the thrice-damned cuff on his ankle, is an immense effort._

 _He's sixteen or seventeen (who knows anymore?) when the walls around him finally come crashing down. He's close to death, because disease is unavoidable in a place like this, and has been deemed a lost cause. A useless slave with a useless devil fruit that never manifested itself. But when bangs and screams and the sounds of battle fill the air one night, and fire licks past the window, a huge figure with a low, warm voice and concerned eyes carries him away from the flames and the wreckage of the slave building that used to hold him. It's fallen. Marco realises with a jolt as the world falls away; he's_ _ **free**_ _._

 _Marco isn't the first to join the old man's crew – there are five or six others, and they treat him like something between a troublesome nephew and a little brother – but he's the first to call him Oyaji. Suddenly, he has that amazing thing called freedom and he wakes every morning to the sound and smell of the ocean all around him, spanning for miles and miles at every side. Of course, he never forgets Thatch. Oyaji promises him, with the same low, warm voice one would use when calming a cornered wild animal, that they'll find his old friend and they'll give him freedom too._

 _Five years, six years pass. Marco's devil fruit proves to be far from useless. The New World beckons, more dangerous and exciting than anything he's ever seen. Their family grows and grows, and suddenly, Marco's a big brother to hundreds of kids, outcasts, pockets of power that yearn to roam wild and free. He loves every minute of it, but the sweet taste of morning sea salt on his tongue is dulled by a yearning to see that redheaded kid – man – again. Every day, Marco misses him more._

* * *

"Hey, Marco?" Ace asks. It's a night of stormy weather, and they're on watch together, near the bow under the rich, midnight sky. "You know I showed you Luffy's bounty poster the other day?"

"Your kid brother, yoi?" Marco considers his younger friend. "I remember. Why?"

"Not now but, when he enters the Grand Line, I'm gonna head over and meet him. It's been such a long time." Ace's eyes grow faraway, and Marco knows that he's reminiscing on better times, younger days. "Is that okay?"

Marco sighs. Pirates don't take 'time off' – but Ace has never been ordinary in any aspect, and pirating is no exception. "You'll have to ask Oyaji. You know we don't play the 'mom and pops' game on this ship, yoi." Ace's pleading eyes meet his and Marco crumbles. "But… I guess it's fine by me."

"Thanks, Marco!" Ace is practically jumping in his seat (the kid is so excitable, it gives Marco a headache to be completely honest). "It's just… he's my brother, you know?"

* * *

 _Marco runs, runs harder than he ever has before, and the auburn-haired man with chain-shaped bruises on his wrists sprints towards him as a building crumbles into dust behind him. Marco's crewmates behind him are confused – undoubtedly so, because the only one who knows about Thatch and Marco's past is Oyaji – but they watch without moving to intervene._

 _"Marco!" The phoenix yells his own name, voice breaking, and Thatch raises his face in a smile so blindingly bright that it makes tears well up in his eyes._

 _"Polo!" Thatch replies, and then their arms are around each other and they're hugging so tightly that Marco prays to god that he won't have to let go for a long time. They smash into each other, spinning with the impact, barely staying upright as they stumble blindly through the dust. Each holds the other so tightly to them that it feels like their backs might break, but they don't let go._

 _Marco is finally home, and as Thatch sheds a few tears into his shoulder and he lets a few of his own fall, he knows that he and his brother are going to be just fine._

* * *

Marco smiles, ruffling Ace's hair. "I know," he says.

* * *

 _(A few hours later, Marco wakes to Ace's head on his shoulder – how did they manage to fall asleep on watch? – and panicked voices, and then he's running hard to reach the main deck. He's on his knees beside a cold body, and blood is on his hands and he whispers his own name, chokes it, **screams** it. Nobody answers.)_


	12. READ THIS

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE - PLEASE READ PLEASE**

Okay; so the chances are that **this fic will only go on for a few more chapters** (yes, including the sequel to  Rogue IV). This is mostly because of three reasons:

1\. I work far better on multi-chapter fics than singular oneshots,  
2\. and this set of fics doesn't seem to be going anywhere in particular in terms of popularity,  
3\. and, the biggest reason of all... **I'm working on a collosal multi-chapter fantasy AU**. ASL!centric, includes a shit ton of insane worldbuilding, and will most likely be very, very long.

THIS is why I'm writing this author's note. You have no idea how goddamn pumped I am for this fic. I've recently uploaded some sketches of this AU to:

 **befunky dot com slash gallery slash paox** **  
**(replace 'dot' with ., 'slash' with /, etc.)

 **- EDIT- go to=**

 **eraofashandbone dot tumblr dot com**

 **to see the sketches! -**

They aren't very good quality because befunky is bloody awful (you can click on them for better quality and if you give me your tumblr/email, I can email you/message you them), but I hope you can get the gist of the character designs and pick up on a few details (Sanji's arm, Zoro's half-hidden tattoo, Ace's new scar, etc etc). **Some basic info/concepts of this AU?**

\- The Whitebeard Pirates are a revolutionary group that occupy most of the northern area of the seas, and are fighting to take down a corrupt system run by _Hyumangoddos_ , this world's equivalent of World Nobles.  
\- Ace being ridiculously familiar and friendly with like everybody because of the culture he grew up in and frustrating his nakama to the n'th degree. Honestly. He's a dolt.  
\- New fighting styles! Complex cultures and attitudes from around the world! also people from the east aren't even fuckin close to human! Worldwide revolution! Renegades and insurgents as the ASL bros, Luffy's just stuck in the middle of it all!  
\- Oh yeah, and it's called 'Era of Ash and Bone'.  
\- No main pairings. I know for sure that Luffy and Sabo don't end up with anybody, and IF Ace does, it won't be a main part of the story and it WON'T be with an OC.

If you want anymore details on the AU/want to help me brainstorm (please?) you can PM me or reach me on tumblr ( **paox** or **newgates** ) OR at my email ( **leevassie550 at gmail dot com** ) OR on ao3 ( **leelee079** ).

Anyway, please go and check out the sketches, read over the ideas, and LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. PLEASE?

\- lee :)

* * *

 **EDIT; re-uploading with a better link to the art-**

 **eraofashandbone dot tumblr dot com**


	13. ONE LAST AUTHORS NOTE, I SWEAR

**UPDATE; I UPLOADED THE THING**

PLEASE GO CHECK OUT THE THING

THANK YOU!

I'LL POST THE REST OF THE SHIT HERE WHEN I HAVE TIME


	14. Loss and Gain

**The Sun and Sea – Chapter 12**

 _ **'Loss and Gain'**_

 **Main character(s): all four  
Set: Harry Potter AU with a dystopian twist I guess? Just read on and see  
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

Hermione grimaced as she stumbled through the smoke-filled town, her feet scuffing ashes up into the air where the hung, unmoving in the dawn light. The battle over this small muggle fishing town had finished hours ago; the Death Eaters had moved along as usual, luckily not finding Hermione in the cellar she had hidden in. Her hair was coated with dirt and her clothes were torn and burned, one part of her jacket slick with blood from a well-aimed slash at her ribs. The brunette leant to the side, pressing her hand to the wound to stop it from bleeding.

It had been like this for five years now. Ever since Voldemort had taken over in Hermione's third year (with the help of Pettigrew and Harry's blood), the coun

try had been in chaos. Hermione, Ron, Harry, Luffy, Ace and Zoro had stuck together since then, moving through the abandoned towns and cities of Europe that stood, tall and domineering, like ghost cities. Most were long since falling down.

"Harry?!" Hermione yelled into the hanging smoke, her voice hoarse. "Ace?! Ron?!"

The brown-haired girl waited for a second before a weak-sounding voice came from a good few metres to her left.

"'Mione?" Ron's voice called. "I need a little help here!"

His voice sounded pained, and Hermione raced over, seeing her friend buried under a pile of rubble and half a roof. Together, the pair worked on lifting the heavy, thatched roof from Ron's leg, which was looking worse for wear but not broken.

"How the hell," Hermione said quietly, her voice undertoned with both amusement and concern, "can you be fighting one minute, and then get yourself buried under a roof?!"

The eighteen-year old grinned sheepishly up at Hermione, and once he was free, hugged her for a second before letting go, blushing furiously. Hermione blushed along with him, and there was silence for a second before...

"Hermeeoan!" came a happy voice from Hermione's left, and a black-haired ball of pure energy came barreling across the barren battlegrounds at break-neck speed, skidding to a halt beside the pair and grinning at them widely, an unnatural amount of teeth showing. "I found this massive Tower thingy!" Luffy said happily, "and then Zoro said that it was a power line, and I tried to climb it and then there was this massive squirrel and I asked if it could poop and-"

"How about you go tell Harry?" Hermione said, smiling sweetly at the sixteen-year old. Harry was the only one that would actually listen to Luffy's stories, not giving little attention (Ron), interrupting (Hermione) or falling asleep (Ace and occasionally Zoro). Luffy, now grinning even more widely, nodded, said 'Thanks Hermeeoan!' and ran off. Hermione shook her head fondly.

"You act like his mother," Ron laughed, and Hermione smiled softly, looping her arm under Ron's to pull him up and let him lean on her.

"Well, I'm not as bad as Sabo," Hermione replied, giggling, as the pair began the long trek to find Ace, the non-elected leader. He was the oldest, now nineteen, and then there was Sabo, then Hermione, then Zoro, followed by Ron, then Harry and then Luffy.

And yes, they were like a family. It didn't matter that they were all damaged and scarred and scared. They would stick together, because in this new world, there was nothing else that you could do. You had to make use of the family you had.

And that was what they did.

* * *

 **Let me know what you thought! Idk, I might continue it**


	15. (unfinished drafts)

**So I have a lot of drafts for this story and none are finished. I thought I would just post the unfinished things here and if there's one that you really, really want me to continue, I might. For now, enjoy :)**

* * *

 **1.**

 **'Shallows'**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Marco  
Set: After Ace leaves to hunt Blackbeard. **

When Ace's striker and the Second Division commander himself disappear into the sea mist, Marco abruptly feels like he's been punched in the gut – hard. Around him, his brothers and sisters are silent, an aura of shock settling over them, and something ugly and empty opens up inside the phoenix that he hasn't felt in a long time. His hand is still stretched out over the railing and he clenches his fist, as if the mere gesture can bring the nineteen year-old back.

Something dangerous stirs and then dies in his father's eyes before the Yonko sighs heavily, looking shockingly old for a second. Most of the crew are gathered on deck, huddled into small groups ( _god, Marco's never seen them look so divided, so_ _ **scared**_ ), and they look up at Oyaji as if they expect him to just laugh and make everything go back to how it was before. A group of Marco's brothers, second division members, stare out over the ocean after their commander. They look a strange concoction of grim and lost and forlorn.

After a few minutes of murmurs and a strange sense of not knowing what to do now, it starts to rain, and the sodden pirates flock inside. Izo is silent, eyes filled with something dark, and he accepts Haruta and the other commanders' growing concern absently, staring at nothing. He's the one who found Thatch's body, and if he was anybody else, Marco would have been suspicious; but he's calm, reliable Izo, and Thatch meant too much to him to do this. As he meets Marco's eyes from across the galley, his hands curl into his kimono.

Slowly, the crew grinds back into action, like a machine restarting after a power cut. Only now, half of the pieces clatter around broken – two of the main parts are gone forever and the once-smooth workings of the system are stunted and slow. The chefs* of the fourth division, fearsome as they may be on the battlefield, are lost – as are the men of Ace's division.

Still, Marco doesn't allow himself to grieve; not yet, not now. He has three divisions to direct, and a crew of worried, suddenly mistrustful pirates to reassure. Until the end of the week he overlooks sleep in favour of the world of new responsibilities on his shoulders. Thatch's funeral. The first, second and fourth divisions (because as much as Jozu worries and tries to shoulder at least _some_ of that responsibility, it's Marco's duty as first mate and oldest on the crew in terms of seniority to so this).

He's a phoenix, and that has its perks when it comes to basic bodily needs and how to avoid them, but by the end of the week he's dead on his feet and Oyaji gently but firmly instructs him to get some sleep before he works himself to death.

Then and only then does Marco allow himself to break down. Once entering his room, a room that once had three full bunks and three occupants** and now has only one, he scrubs his face and body mechanically in the mirror. Tries to somewhat manage his tangled hair (he hasn't had time to pay it much mind). Changes out of his soiled and probably revolting-smelling clothes. Clings and stretches his worn bones and muscles.

The Phoenix walks toward his bed, but seeing the small, greenish snail shell lying on the covers stops him in his tracks. Ace's den-den mushi – well, technically it's Marco's, but it links up to Ace's and now the thought of the man fills his mind. A quick glance over to Ace's neatly made bunk reveals that his counterpart snail is gone.

Marco wants to, wants to more than anything, but he can't bring himself to talk to Ace. Not now, when something hot is smarting in his eyes and Thatch, the man he's called his brother for over a decade, is gone. Slumping against the door, back against the cold wood, he buries his face in his hands, hitting the floor as his long legs stretch out in front of him. The tears come slowly and sparsely, one on his left cheek and then one slipping down his right, and _God,_ it's been so long since Marco cried that he's almost forgotten how to do it.

He doesn't sob – in fact, he doesn't make any noise at all, just lets the waves of an emotion he can only describe as pure _pain_ wash over him.

What must be half an hour later, Marco stands up with a blank face and no trace of tears on his cheeks. Now he's stronger, and he can keep it up for as long as he needs to, and Thatch is just another wound that he can pretend doesn't exist until it scars. With a sigh, the blond sits down on the edge of his bed lightly, spinning the den-den mushi between his fingers idly. Should he try? Will Ace even answer? It's been four days, and even with the worry curling in his gut, Marco knows that the younger pirate is most likely absolutely fine – he's not the second division commander for nothing.

* * *

 **2.**

 **Summary: Years ago, Sabo and Luffy's brother was made a victim of the slave trade. Now they're Whitebeard Pirates, but soon start to hear strange rumours of a man in the East Blue with a devil fruit.**

It was a day not long after the incident with Sabo's father and Bluejam that found Sabo, Ace and Luffy waking up in the treehouse to a new day, warm and near-windless. Sabo woke silently, not willing to open his eyes for a few minutes as consciousness came to him slowly. He could feel Ace's back pressed against his, and Luffy's rubbery arms wrapped around him what felt like a couple of hundred times, and the blond resisted the urge to smile. Shifting a little closer to Luffy and feeling Ace shift in response, he was happy to bask in the sun and his brothers' warm presences for a few minutes.

It couldn't last, however. Luffy, unlike Sabo, did not wake silently; on the contrary, he woke with an obnoxiously loud yawn, and as he stretched out his arms far further than most humans would have the ability to do, he caught Ace in the jaw, shocking the oldest out of sleep. As a tussle broke out, Sabo finally forced himself to open his eyes, rolling them in exasperation as he glanced at his brothers. Ace was pummelling their small rubber brother into the floor, of course, but Luffy was grinning as he insisted that he was the champion, even as his 'pistol punch' flew and then flopped pathetically.

Sabo glanced out of the window at the sun as it slowly started its journey through the sky. It had only been three weeks ago that he and his brothers had woken up to this same sunrise, blissfully unaware that Sabo's father and his guards would be waiting for them at Grey Terminal that day. Only hours later, the three boys had been at the mercy of a gang of Bluejam's thugs and Outlook, Sabo's father, himself. Sabo heaved a silent sigh as he remembered it.

 _"Sabo!" Ace yelled, "Damnitt! Don't give them what they want, what're you doing?!"_

 _Luffy's wide, dark eyes were full of tears. "Come home with us, Sabo, you're our brother! Leave this jerk alone!"_

 _The blond bit his lip as hot tears smarted in his eyes. He wanted to stay with Ace and Luffy, wanted it more than he'd even wanted anything in the world_

* * *

 **3.**

 **Main character(s): Luffy, Ace, Sabo**

 **Set: AU (still One Piece universe) where ASL spent a few years with the Whitebeard Pirates in their youth.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

 **|\|\|\|**

A tense silence falls over the deck of the Moby Dick. They're sailing near a mild winter island, where the days are short and the nights long and harsh, and the sun has only just risen. The crew of ragtags, gathered on deck, stare up at their captain and father in silence.

The mood is mixed. Some members of the crew, those who've joined within the last three years, are confused at this sudden gathering. The commanders, gathered closest to their father, almost hum with an atmosphere of anticipation. The second division commander, cowboy hat hanging over his back by a string looped around his neck, is practically bouncing where he stands.

"Marco…" After a pregnant pause, Oyaji's voice finally rings out. "What's the date today?"

The first division commander smirks, with the air of somebody completing a ritual. "May fifth, yoi," he says evenly, and there's excitement in his eyes.

"Special date?" asks Vista with a grin, as if he doesn't already know exactly what's happening today. "I mean-"

Ace has apparently reached the end of his patience. "Damnitt, people, can we stop beating around the bush?!" he asks in his distinctive accent*, "Let's just do this already!" Despite his apparent annoyance, he's smiling widely.

Their father gives a bellowing laugh, ruffling the young commander's wayward black hair roughly with one huge finger. "I suppose if you're really that impatient to see your brothers again… Men!" The crew jump to attention. "Set a course for Paradise! Today, we sail to the East Blue!"

Immediately, the hoard of excited pirates burst into raucous cheers, flying into action. Haruta, a crew member as of two years and a division commander as of one, looks like she's about to pull her hair out.

"Oyaji, Marco… what?!" She finally manages to find her words. "What's going on? What's this about brothers? And why're we going to East Blue of all places?!"

Passing, Ace makes a defensive comment about how his home sea is a perfectly lovely place to visit before being pulled back into the fray. Haruta ignores him (god, he acts like East Blue is the origin of sliced bread). The first division commander, blond hair tickled by the wind, gives her an appraising look. After a second, realisation takes over.

"Oh yeah, you've only been here two years, huh?" She nods dumbly. "I guess we have some explaining to do, yoi." The Phoenix raises his voice. "If you have no idea what's happening, come over to Oyaji and I now, yoi!" he calls, voice ringing over the crowd. Soon, the newbies (well, as new as you can be when you've been on a crew for three years) are gathered and Marco turns to his father, still smirking.

"'Stage is yours, Oyaji-yoi," says the blonde.

Sensing a story coming, the gathered pirates sit, even as the crew continues to dissolve into chaos around them (Thatch is running around like a chicken without its head. Or, at least, a chicken on fire. Ace cackles madly, before going back to dashing around wildly himself, as if the Judgement Day has arrived).

"Ten years ago," the old pirate starts, "This crew was a lot smaller than it is now. Marco, Thatch and Izo were on an investigation mission into a disturbance on one of our protected islands in the East Blue, and while they were there, they happened to stumble upon three kids, who'd been thrown far from their home…"

 **|\|\|\|**

 _Thatch feels like his whole head is one massive bruise. Or he's ascended to the afterlife, and taken a pretty hard fall into hell. Either way, he feels like absolute shit, and his mind doesn't seem to be able to process the reason why. What the hell did he drink last night?_

 _Drink…_

 _It hits him. Snapping his eyes open, the newly-dubbed third division commander bolts upright. The world around him lurches dangerously, and his head pounds. A groan escapes from chapped lips._

 _"Feeling alright, Thatch-yoi?" Marco's voice comes from somewhere to his right, utterly smug._

 _"Did I win?" the chef slurs. His tongue feels oversized and heavy, and words won't come out clearly._

 _"Win what?" Izo's voice floats from somewhere above him as a door opens, the cawing of seagulls filling the air. Thatch's vision spins._

 _"The drinking contest." It feels vaguely like a heard of elephants are trampling through his head._

 _"Oh, you mean the one with me, yoi?" Even smugger, now, if that's even possible. "The one where you passed out after only your-"_

 _"I lost?" His brain is working slowly. Slowly, the world rights itself. The realisation hits._

 _"Fuck, I lost?!" Thatch tries to spring out of his hammock and ends up on the floor, looking up at the grubby ceiling. "Marco, I saw you down more than a man should be able to digest before the drinking contest! How the hell did you-"_

 _Whistling innocently. Marco casually lets a flicker of blue flame rise and then die on his clothed shoulder. Thatch stares dumbly for a second, uncomprehending, before it hits him and-_

 _"MarcooOOO! You cheater!"_

 _The fruit user smirks. "You never said specifically, 'Marco-Taichou, refrain from using your devil fruit powers to regenerate during our drinking contest, as I deem that against the etiquette of the-"_

 _"Fuck you! It's a drinking contest, what the hell is etiquette to a drinking contest?!"_

 _"All I'm saying is that it takes more than a few drinks to down a phoenix_

 _(unfinished scene)_

 **|\|\|\|**

Zoro, even for the first mate and Luffy's good friend, barely knows anything about Luffy's family.

He's been with the crew for the longest, from back when it was just him and Luffy falling asleep in a tiny dinghy under the East Blue sky, living like renegades. He knows Luffy better than most – better than everybody on the crew, at least, and Nami has more than once referred to him as a 'multi-purpose Luffy-translator'. Sanji says that it's because they're on the same level of idiot.

However, no matter the explanation, Zoro knows Luffy better than he knows himself; but he's only ever heard small snippets about his origins. Sometimes Luffy'll see something in a shop and say something like, 'Ma would like this' or 'Hey, look! It's just like Thatchy's!' or even 'Ace would love this hat, it's just like his!' and 'that looks like Oyaji's moustache'. Zoro wonders but doesn't ask – if it was truly important, his captain would tell him, but that doesn't stop his curiosity. Luffy's a goddamn monster, and his family must be even more so.

They reach Alabasta with Vivi on a sweltering day (used to the mild climate of East Blue, Zoro feels the urge to throw himself off a roof, but Chopper's looking far worse so he can't complain). Their childish captain is god-knows where, and Nami looks like she's at the end of her tether.

And then, Zoro sees _him_. Shirtless, with the tanned and weathered skin of a seaman – but he's young, maybe a year or two older than himself. He has a garishly orange hat on his unkempt, black hair, and he exudes a kind of relaxed strength that immediately sets Zoro on edge. When he turns away, dark eyes shaded by his hat, the swordsman's breath catches at the symbol – no, the _Jolly Roger_ – on his back.

Whitebeard Pirate. There's a Whitebeard Pirate in Alabasta, strolling down a street dotted with civilians and marines without a care in the world. Checking behind him – yep, Usopp, Chopper and Nami are distracted – Zoro edges as surreptitiously as he can down the street. The man's saying something to a street vendor in a low but friendly voice, slightly accented. Who does that accent remind Zoro of?

The man appears to be showing a slip of slightly soiled paper to the Alabastan man; a bounty poster, by the looks of it. After a second, Zoro narrows his eyes.

That's Luffy's wanted poster. The Whitebeard Pirates are looking for his captain.

To be fair, Zoro should have expected something like this. Luffy attracts all trouble within a ten-mile radius ( _really_ , damnitt, he seems to have it down to a finely-tuned art), and if the Whitebeard Pirates – or, at least, one of them – are in Alabasta, then it's practically natural that they're there for _him_ , not for something firmly apart from Zoro and his crew.

Suddenly, the Whitebeard Pirate glances down a sidestreet. There, Zoro can just make out a shady figure in the shadows. Thanking the street vendor politely with a bow, he takes off towards them, soon disappearing into the darkness.

Zoro waits for a few seconds, but nobody reappears, so he eventually walks back up the street to re-join with the other three Strawhats. He gets lost in the process, too, because he's Roronoa Zoro and that's what he does.

As he leaves the street, though, he can't shake the feeling that somebody is watching him intently.

 **|\|\|\|**

A few hours later, they've completely restocked. The Strawhats regroup behind a small, crumbling wall on the edge of the small port city and start to pack their new purchases into sacks, just as Luffy comes pounding around a nearby corner towards them with what looks like half of the damn navy on his ass. Half of the crew look like they want to wring his skinny little neck, smack the giddy grin off his face, while the other half look close to tears.

It's just like any other day, apparently.

"C'mon, guys, what're you waiting around for?!" Luffy calls, beaming.

"FOR YOU, YOU INFERNAL IDI-" Nami starts, but then she's being pulled along by Vivi and they're all running like hell.

Zoro sprints to run level with his captain, carrying two sacks, and tosses one at him. "Took your time, Sencho," he smirks, with no real bite in his voice.

"Shishishi! Wari, wari, Zoro!" Luffy throws his head back and laughs.

The first mate risks a glance behind them; _crap_ , Smoker's damn near stepping on their heels. Just as the menacing-looking marine lunges forward, shooting a plume of smoke at them with a roar-

 _(unfinished scene)_

 **|\|\|\|**

 ***I always imagined people from Goa having a slightly Irish accent, I don't know why. I would say Welsh, because that's where I spent most of my childhood and that would most definitely make me feel infinitely more badass, but the Welsh accent is atrocious at best, so let's leave that notion where it is.**

* * *

 **4.**

 **'Rogue 17' (Sequel to _Rogue IV_ )**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Sabo, Luffy, Zoro  
Set: Directly after Rogue IV concludes  
**

 **|\|\|\|**

It isn't until after their escape from the village, isn't until they're out on the bright, blue sea and sailing forward, that it hits Nami.

She nearly falls out of her boat.

"You _\- you!_ " She gestures wildly.

Zoro raises an eyebrow, looking utterly uninterested. "Us?"

"You're Mihawk Zoro, and-!" She turns to Luffy, scrambling back across the floor of the raft. "You're the son of Dragon! Monkey D. Luffy!" _Crap_. Nami's always been good at avoiding the worst of the dangers on these mostly-calm waters, but it couldn't last. Apparently, her luck in escaping danger had rapidly, horrifyingly plummeted.

"Touchy…" Luffy whines, at the same time as Zoro says, "And it's _Roronoa_ Zoro. That man isn't my father."

* * *

 **5.**

 **' _There Will Be Lies_ '**

 **Main character(s): Ace, Sabo and Luffy  
Set: AU in which Sabo stayed with Ace and Luffy, canon divergence from when Luffy is fourteen.  
Disclaimer: I don't own it.**

 **0o0o0**

It happens nearly exactly a year after Sabo and Ace leave Dawn Island for good. Luffy's fourteen, close to fifteen, and he still hasn't had his growth spurt (it's mightily unfair if you ask him, because Sabo and Ace both did by the time they were in their teens, and by the time they leave, they're towering over him). It happened when Luffy's training, training hard and for long hours every day, so that he can meet his big brothers at the top.

It happens, in retrospect, on a perfectly normal day. And it's safe to say that it's one of the last normal days Luffy will have in a long time.

 **0o0o0**

Sabo wakes early to Ace's light nudging and poking, which soon gives way to forceful shaking. "Sabo! Oi, 'Bo, come on. We're on watch."

The young pirate cracks his eyes open a sliver, closing them again tightly when he's greeted with the sight of his brother grinning down at him. " _You're_ on watch, you mean. Do it y'self, I want to sleep." His voice comes out as a whine, and he buries himself further into his hammock.

A second later, something tugs at the base of said hammock and he topples, flopping out as the world turns upside down. Still beaming (god, he's so damn _cheerful_. It should be illegal at this time in the morning), Ace catches an armful of sleepy blonde, before depositing his brother on the cold, wooden floor. "I've got watch, you've got watch, potato tomato. Would you really be against giving little ol' me some company?"

Scowling up at the second division commander, Sabo accepts his helping hand, allows himself to be pulled to his feet. Grabbing his top hat from the floor near his and Ace's hammocks, the youth smacks his brother hard across the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"You're a dick, that's why." Pulling on a shirt, Sabo looks decidedly unimpressed

"All I want is the company! And we're both meant to be second division commanders, so we should share the same responsibility!"

"But you're the official second division commander!" Sabo pulls on his boots, tucking in his loose cargo pants.

"But you're the responsible one!" What had once been bickering melts into casual banter, and Ace and his brother step out of the commander's quarters (now with one conveniently added sleeping place) and into the bright sunlight, smiling.

"Still counts." Sabo combs his hands through his tangled blonde locks, trying fruitlessly to wrangle them into some semblance of neatness and failing miserably. He returns his fellow commander's stuck out tongue without hesitation, before he and his companion begin to spider their way up the rigging to the crow's nest. After years of surviving in the forests of Mount Corvo, this sort of climbing is nothing.

When they get to the top, Sabo and Ace find that those who must have been on watch last (two guys from the third division, if Sabo remembers correctly) are gone already. The sky is slowly making its way from black to midnight blue to grey, and as they sit in a comfortable silence, the horizon is streaked gradually with pink. The sea is iron-grey and empty, relatively calm (though, with this being the New World, that isn't likely to last long.

Rubbing his eyes to dispel the last vestiges of sleep, Sabo lets his head fall back, smiling to himself. It's been ten months, maybe a little more, since he and Ace set out – and it's been wild. Four months into their voyage with the Club and Spade pirates, their journey came to an unexpected hault with Ace – the utterly reckless idiot – trying to take on Whitebeard himself; right after, no less, Sabo had fought one of the Warlords and was completely shattered, unconscious and unable to stop his brother from doing the one thing that could get him killed.

Surprisingly, though, after Ace was pummelled into the floor Whitebeard offered him a hand and an offer for him and his crew to join the Whitebeards

* * *

 **anyway, sorry this is crappy, but if anything catches your eye (even if you want to use any of these to make your own fic) let me know! and please check out my new fic, 'Strays'.**


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